R03_sequence_browse.jpg
Image Title: Galileo Imaging of Jupiter's Rings
Target Name: J Rings
Is a satellite of: Jupiter
Mission: Galileo
Spacecraft: Galileo Orbiter
Instrument: Solid State Imaging
Produced By: Cornell University
Creation Date: 1998-09-15
Primary Data Set: Galileo EDRs
Full-Res JPEG: R03_sequence_full.jpg (178 kbytes)

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Original Caption Released with Image:
Some three dozen separate images of Jupiter's ring system were obtained during Galileo's nominal, two year mission. Ring images were acquired in November 1996 during the spacecraft's third orbit of Jupiter, in May 1997 during the eighth orbit, in October 1997 during the tenth orbit, and in November 1997 during the eleventh orbit. The image sequences were designed to investigate the shape and extent of the three primary ring components, the halo, the main ring, and the gossamer rings, as well as to better understand the size of the particles which form the rings.

This drawing shows the design of four sequences, each containing several images. The individual rectangular frames (blue boxes) overlay a sketch of the expected ring. Given the rings' large physical scale, data frames often were mathematically compressed or physically trimmed so as to best use the resources available for storing images and transmitting them back to Earth.

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.

Image Note:
This page is not a Planetary PhotoJournal release, but is an illustration provided by the Galileo imaging (SSI) team as further background for other releases of imaging data.