If you head for orbit around Jupiter, you might want to take along your dust mop. Wide but thin rings encircle the planet. And they’re made of tiny particles of dust.

Jupiter’s rings are nothing like the magnificent set that encircles Saturn. The rings are so faint, in fact, that they weren’t discovered until 1979, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew close to Jupiter.

The system consists of four main rings. The inner ring, known as the halo, contains especially tiny particles, like a thin haze. The particles in the main ring are a little larger, but still quite small. And the two outer rings – known as gossamer rings – are wide and thick, but still don’t add up to much.

The particles that make up the rings probably were chipped off of some the small moons that orbit close to Jupiter. Chunks of ice and rock slam into the moons, blasting out clouds of debris.

The particles in the rings spiral into Jupiter quickly – within hundreds or thousands of years. So the rings are being constantly replenished by more impacts – adding to the dusty environment around the solar system’s largest planet.

Jupiter teams up with the Moon and the twins of Gemini tonight. The planet looks like a brilliant star below the Moon at nightfall. It’s far brighter than any of the true stars. Gemini’s twins – the stars Castor and Pollux – line up to the lower left of the Moon.

More about this beautiful grouping tomorrow.

Script by Damond Benningfield