Gas torus
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A gas torus is a form of planetary ring composed of gas rather than ice and dust. Jupiter has a gas torus of ions generated by Io's vulcanism that contributes significantly to radiation levels in Jupiter's vicinity.
A notable use of a gas torus in fiction is as the setting for Larry Niven's novels The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring, in which a gas giant in orbit around a neutron star generates a gas torus of sufficient density to allow life (including humans) to survive in it. This arrangement is not particularly plausible in the real world, however.
| Rings of Jupiter • Rings of Saturn • Rings of Uranus • Rings of Neptune |
| See also: gas torus • R/2003 U 1 |
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