The arc on the far right of the image is produced by sunlight scattered by small particles comprising Jupiter's upper atmospheric haze. The ring also efficiently scatters light, indicating that much of its brightness is due to particles that are microns or less in diameter. Such small particles are believed to have human-scale lifetimes, i.e., very brief compared to the solar system's age. The near and far arms of Jupiter's main ring extend horizontally across the mosaic, joining together at the ring's ansa, on the far left side of the figure. The near arm of the ring appears to be abruptly truncated close to the planet, at the point where it passes into Jupiter's shadow.
Some radial structure is barely visible across the ring's ansa.
Because of shadowing, the halo is not visible close to Jupiter in the lower right part of the mosaic. Jupiter's main ring is a thin strand of material encircling the planet. The diffuse innermost boundary begins at approximately 123,000 km. Satellites seem to affect the structure of even tenuous rings like that found at Jupiter. The spacecraft's mission is to conduct detailed studies of the giant planet, its largest moons and the Jovian magnetic environment.