SPACE PHOTO QUIZ

Feb. 27, 2009

A: Jupiter's Ring System

You're looking at the rings looping around the solar system's largest and heftiest planet -- Jupiter.

NASA's Voyager spacecraft took this computer-enhanced image this month 1979, leading to the discovery of the rings. It's in false-color to highlight their faint existence.

Saturn's rings are bright thanks to plenty of ice and dust to reflect sunlight. As for Jupiter's rings? They're dim because they lack a lot of ice and are made of fine dust.

One possible origin of the ring system, astronomers think, is repeated impacts of asteroids and comets with Jupiter's inner moons.

--StarTales, Lowell Observatory/Dave Mosher

Want to test your wits some more? Check out last month's Space Photo Quiz!

Credit: NASA/Voyager Project- For a full-resolution image, click here.