August 7, 1997
You share your birthday with the light of distant galaxies that has been traveling for millions of years just to arrive here, now, alongside...
Jupiter's Ring Halo
Birthday · August 7, 1997
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published August 7, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Why do small particles hover around Jupiter's rings? These particles form a previously unknown ring halo, recently discovered by the robot spacecraft Galileo currently orbiting Jupiter. Galileo obtained this image when on the far side of Jupiter - from this orientation scattered sunlight makes the halo ring visible. The amount of scattering indicates that halo particles are very small - perhaps 100 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Particles this small are believed to survive only for years, and so must somehow be replenished to Jupiter's ancient ring system. One possible explanation for this unusual halo is that electromagnetic fields around Jupiter gently push small charged particles out of the ring plane. This false color image has been artificially stretched in the vertical direction to highlight the ring halo.