Abstract
Everyone knew that only Saturn (and, more recently, Uranus) had rings. Even models used to predict long-term stability of planetary rings indicated that the Jovian system could not maintain one [1]. Nonetheless, Tobias Owen, a co-investigator on the Voyager Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Team, thought that a planet the size of Jupiter must have debris around it [2]. He postulated that Jupiter might have material about it in the equivalent region of Saturn’s B ring. Although most investigators thought that Jupiter did not have such material, Brad Smith, the ISS Principal Investigator, had his own reason to support such an observation. In retrospect, Dr. Smith stated that a search for a Jovian ring was not made “with any great expectation of a positive result but more for the purpose of providing a degree of completeness to Voyager’s survey of the entire Jupiter system” [3].
Chapter PDF
4.5 Notes and References
Morrison, D., Samz, J., Voyage to Jupiter, NASA SP-439, 1980, p. 84.
Personal communication with Tobias Owen.
Elliot, J., Kerr, R., 1984, Rings—Discoveries from Galileo to Voyager, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1984, p. 100.
Ibid.
Personnel communication with Candice Hansen-Koharcheck.
Morrison, D., Samz, J., (1980) Voyage to Jupiter, NASA SP-439, p 85.
Ibid., p. 63.
Ibid., p. 85.
Personnel communication with Charles C. Avis.
Caption found at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02251
Flight Science Office Science and Mission Systems Handbook—Voyager Uranus/Interstellar Mission, Voyager Document PD 618-128 (JPL D-498), Revision C, dated 1985 July 1, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, p. 2.3.
Morrison, D., Samz, J., 1980, Voyage to Jupiter, NASA SP-439, p. 86.
Elliot, J., Kerr, R., 1984, Rings—Discoveries from Galileo to Voyager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, p. 104.
Morrison, D., Samz, J., 1980, Voyage to Jupiter, NASA SP-439, p. 93.
Ibid., p. 136.
Ibid.
Flight Science Office Science and Mission Systems Handbook—Voyager Uranus/Interstellar Mission, Voyager Document PD 618-128 (JPL D-498), Revision C, dated 1985 July 1, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, p. 2.3.
Showalter, M. R., Burns, J. A., Cuzzi, J. N., Pollack, J. B., 1985, “Discovery of Jupiter’s ‘gossamer’ ring”, Nature 316, 526–528.
Personal communication with Brian Paczkowski.
Galileo Project Final Report, Galileo Document JPL D-28516, Volume 1, 21 September 2003, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, p. 115.
Ibid., p. 153.
Ibid., p. 174.
Caption found at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03001
A brief description of the Jupiter ring system can be found at URL http://solarsystem.na-sa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object = Jupiter&Display = Rings
Caption found at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01628
Ibid.
Cornell News, Galileo finds Jupiter’s rings formed by dust blasted off small moons, http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/sept98/jupiter_rings.html
Galileo Project Final Report, Galileo Document JPL D-28516, Volume 1, 21 September 2003, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Appendix A-5.
Ibid.
Ibid., p. 203.
4.6 Bibliography
Elliot, J., Kerr, R., 1984, Rings—Discoveries from Galileo to Voyager, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1984.
Flight Science Office Science and Mission Systems Handbook—Voyager Uranus/Interstellar Mission, Voyager Document PD 618-128 (JPL D-498), Revision C, dated 1985 July 1, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
Guiliano, J. A. (compiled), 1978, Voyager 1 and 2—Jupiter Science Link Dictionary Index, JPL Document 618–805.
Morrison, D., Samz, J., 1980, Voyage to Jupiter, NASA SP-439.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Praxis Publishing Ltd, Chichester, UK
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(2007). The discovery of the Jupiter ring system. In: Planetary Ring Systems. Springer Praxis Books. Praxis. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73981-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73981-6_4
Publisher Name: Praxis
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-34177-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-73981-6
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)