Yep, Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System does have rings.
The rings are fairly faint, particularly in comparison to other planets such as Saturn, who's icy ring system is far more pronounced.
In fact, they were not observed until 1979, when they were spotted by the Voyager 1 space probe. They can be viewed from Earth, but only using large, specialist telescopes.
Jupiters rings are made up of three components:
- A pair of wispy outer rings known as Gossamer rings. More specifically, Amalthea Gossamer and Thebe Gossamer.
- The main ring, which is 4000 miles wide
- An inner cloud-like ring called the Halo
The rings are formed by dust particles thrown off the moons that orbit the planet.
The size of the particles affect the visibility of the rings, with the brightest and most visible being the main ring, although the extent of this visibility depends very much on "light geometry", and whether the ring is being viewed through forward or backward scattered light (the latter being much brighter).
