The low energy charged particle instrument had discovered high-speed sulfur in the outer Jovian magnetosphere, ten times as far from the planet as the sulfur torus around Io. The high-speed sulfur, which whizzed by Voyager 1 at 8000 kilometers per second, was first detected as the spacecraft crossed the magnetopause and entered the magnetosphere. Apparently this sulfur had picked up speed as it moved outward from Io’s torus, but the mechanism for this acceleration was not known. Roby Vogt reported that the cosmic ray instrument was detecting two distinct groups of atoms closer in to the planet. One group was apparently of solar composition (derived from the solar wind), and the other showed enhanced oxygen as well as sulfur. The plasma instrument had also begun to measure sulfur in the same form (S III) as that detected by the UVS in the Io torus. Where, the scientists asked, could the oxygen and sulfur be coming from? Could Io be the source of these atoms? At one point, as questions from the press became too detailed, asking for “instant analyses” of the data, Dr. Smith was prompted to make the following statement: “I want to say something about what’s going on right now in the imaging area because we get a lot of pointed questions. We have a remarkably good system that is getting extremely good photographs. Not only are the cameras working well, but Jupiter and the satellites are cooperating by showing a lot of truly remarkable detail. And it may sound unprofessional, but a lot of the people up in the Imaging Team area are just standing around with their mouths hanging open watching the pictures come in, and you don’t like to tear yourself away to go and start looking at numbers on a printout. We will do that, but in the meantime we’re just caught up in the excitement of what’s going on.” While the press briefing was underway, between 11:38 and 11:50 a.m., a special experiment was being tried on board the Voyager. As the spacecraft passed through the plane of the equator of Jupiter, it aimed its narrow-angle camera to a point in space halfway between the cloud tops and the orbit of Amalthea and took a single, eleven-minute exposure. The purpose: to search for a possible faint ring around Jupiter, which, if present, could best be seen by sighting along the plane of the equator. The image appeared briefly on the TV monitors, clearly showing something—a strange band of light—streaking across the center of the frame. Up in the imaging area, analyses began at once to determine if the strange band were really the sought-for ring, but it would not be until March 7 that the identification would be confirmed and the discovery announced.