Which planet has two wide rings primarily composed of debris from Amalthea and Thebe?

• A. Saturn
• B. Jupiter
• C. Uranus
• D. Neptune

Answer: (B)

Dust in orbit around a planet can come from material ejected by small moons when micrometeoroids strike them. That debris can spread into diffuse, wide rings around the planet. For Jupiter, two such broad, faint rings exist beyond the bright main ring; they’re called the Amalthea gossamer ring and the Thebe gossamer ring, named after the moons whose ejecta supply the dust. Since Amalthea and Thebe are inner moons of Jupiter, their debris naturally forms these two wide rings around Jupiter.