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Article: Mooning over the dust rings of Jupiter.(photos reveal new information)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 19, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The deep impacts that killed the dinosaurs or excavated our moon's vast craters count among the most spectacular examples of collisions in the solar system. Even little crashes, however, can make a big difference.
Images taken by the Galileo spacecraft reveal that the dust kicked up by scraps of interplanetary debris plowing into four of Jupiter's tiniest moons are the source of the giant planet's dust rings. Mars' moon Phobos also has been pummeled and its surface pulverized into powder perhaps a meter deep.
Faint rings encircling Jupiter's equator between the planet and its large moon Io were discovered by the two Voyager craft in the late 1970s. ...