Spacecraft trajectory during Galileo's third orbit of Jupiter
in November 1996. Most Galileo ring images were taken when the spacecraft
passed through Jupiter's shadow and was quite distant from the planet,
well outside of Callisto's orbit. In this configuration, micrometer sized
particles, which are a major component of Jupiter's ring system,
are highlighted as sunlight diffracts around them. Since the Sun is hidden
behind the planet, its brightness does not damage Galileo's sensitive optics.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.
This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted
on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL
http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Background information and educational context for the images can be found at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo.
