Jupiter's Gossamer Ring is the diffuse band which starts exterior to the main ring and continues beyond the left edge of this mosaic. Gossamer Ring Structure. New Galileo images, taken at increasing sensitivities, show structure in the gossamer rings. The right frame, a subset of the data in the left frame, focusses on the inner gossamer ring and the moon Amalthea. Jupiter's Inner Satellites and the Formation of the Rings.
Fine dust is kicked up as micrometeroids strike the inner satellites.
As the dust particles absorb sunlight, they spiral in towards Jupiter and form an equatorial planetary ring. The Heights of Jupiter's Main and Gossamer Rings correspond to the maximum inclination of the related satellite's orbit from Jupiter's equatorial plane. Thebe's orbit is more inclined than Amalthea's orbit so the outer gossamer ring extends vertically further than the inner gossamer ring. Since both the satellites and the dust particles from them pause at the tops and bottoms of their paths before they come back down, the rings are denser at their top and bottom edges. Jupiter's Ring Halo forms as particles which spiral in toward Jupiter are pushed up and down by electromagnetic forces.