The formation of Jupiter's faint rings

Observations by the Galileo spacecraft and the Keck telescope showed that J upiter's outermost (gossamer) ring is actually two rings circumscribed by t he orbits of the small satellites Amalthea and Thebe. The gossamer rings' u nique morphology-especially the rectangular end profiles at the satellite's orbit and the enhanced intensities along the top and bottom edges of the r ings-can be explained by collisional ejecta lost from the inclined satellit es. The ejecta evolves inward under Poynting-Robertson drag. This mechanism may also explain the origin of Jupiter's main ring and suggests that faint rings may accompany all small inner satellites of the other jovian planets .