The Thebe gossamer ring is brightest near its top and bottom edges and gradually becomes brighter towards Jupiter—much like the Amalthea ring.
The outer boundary of the main ring, located at 129 100 km, or slightly beyond the orbit of Adrastea, is very steep.
The spectral properties of the halo ring are different from the main ring.
In forward-scattered light the ring appears to be about 30 times fainter than the main ring.
Thus the width of the main ring is around 6 500 km.
The dust in the gossamer rings originates in essentially the same way as that in the main ring and halo.
The Thebe gossamer ring is the faintest Jovian ring.
The dust probably originates in the main ring, a claim supported by the fact that the halo’s optical depth is comparable with that of the dust in the main ring.
The thickness of the ring is approximately 8400 km near the orbit of Thebe and slightly decreases in the direction of the planet.[f]
It comprises four main components: a thick inner torus of particles known as the "halo ring"; a relatively bright, exceptionally thin "main ring"; and two wide, thick and faint outer "gossamer rings", named after the moons of whose material they are composed: Amalthea and Thebe.
Its outer edge coincides with the inner boundary of the main ring approximately at the radius 122 500 km (1.72 RJ).
The dust scatters light preferably in the forward direction and forms a relatively thick homogenous ring bounded by the orbit of Adrastea.
The particles in the main ring are expected to have aspherical shapes.
The detection of the Amalthea gossamer ring from the ground, in Galileo images and the direct dust measurements have allowed the determination of the particle size distribution, which appears to follow the same power law as the dust in the main ring with q=2 ± 0.5.
This parent body population is confined to the narrow—about 1000 km—and bright outer part of the main ring, and includes Metis and Adrastea.
