[Steely Tom]

It could be that the outer ring, while very bright, is very thin, and thus less visible, when viewed edge-on.

Or that the particles that form it are aligned in some way.

[Izzy Dunne]

Yeah, I totally don't understand that alignment stuff. I read that if you made a scale model of Saturn's rings, if it was as thick as a CD, it would have to be four miles in diameter. That's how strict the alignment is.

For what you suggest to be true, they would have to be quite thin in one dimension, and aligned with the planet in that dimension. I don't suggest that that is impossible, but I have no concept of how the physics could make it so.