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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photo: "Missing" Moons, "Dirty" Ice Among Jupiter Flyby Finds


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The orbits of Jupiter's four tiny inner moons—Amalthea, Adrastea, Metis, and Thebe—are seen in an artist's cutaway view of the gas giant's ring system. These moons are thought to be the sources of the dust that forms Jupiter's faint rings.

Scientists studying images of the rings taken during a recent flyby of the New Horizons probe were surprised to find no new moons smaller than the four already known.

Image courtesy NASA/Cornell University