Interplanetary dust cloud

Theinterplanetary dust cloud,orzodiacal cloud(as the source of thezodiacal light), consists ofcosmic dust(smallparticlesfloating inouter space) that pervades the space betweenplanetswithinplanetary systems,such as theSolar System.^[2]This system of particles has been studied for many years in order to understand its nature, origin, and relationship to larger bodies. There are several methods to obtainspace dust measurement.

In the Solar System, interplanetary dust particles have a role inscattering sunlightand in emittingthermal radiation,which is the most prominent feature of thenight sky's radiation, with wavelengths ranging 5–50μm.^[3]Theparticle sizesof grains characterizing theinfraredemission nearEarth's orbittypically range 10–100 μm.^[4]Microscopic impact craters on lunar rocks returned by theApollo Program^[5]revealed the size distribution ofcosmic dustparticles bombarding the lunar surface. The’’Grün’’distribution of interplanetary dust at 1 AU,^[6]describes the flux ofcosmic dustfrom nm to mm sizes at 1 AU.

The total mass of the interplanetary dust cloud is approximately3.5×10¹⁶kg,or the mass of anasteroidof radius 15 km (with density of about 2.5 g/cm³).^[7]Straddling thezodiacalong theecliptic,this dust cloud is visible as the zodiacal light in a moonless and naturally dark sky and is best seen sunward during astronomicaltwilight.

ThePioneerspacecraft observations in the 1970s linked thezodiacal lightwith the interplanetary dust cloud in the Solar System.^[8]Also, theVBSDCinstrument on theNew Horizonsprobe was designed to detect impacts of the dust from the zodiacal cloud in the Solar System.^[9]

Origin

Artist's conceptof a view from anexoplanet,with light from anextrasolar interplanetary dustcloud

The sources of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) include at least: asteroid collisions,cometaryactivity and collisions in the inner Solar System,Kuiper beltcollisions, andinterstellar mediumgrains (Backman, D., 1997). The origins of the zodiacal cloud have long been subject to one of the most heated controversies in the field of astronomy.

It was believed that IDPs had originated from comets or asteroids whose particles had dispersed throughout the extent of the cloud. However, further observations have suggested that Marsdust stormsmay be responsible for the zodiacal cloud's formation.^[10]^[2]

Life cycle of a particle

The main physical processes "affecting" (destruction or expulsion mechanisms) interplanetary dust particles are: expulsion byradiation pressure,inwardPoynting-Robertson (PR) radiation drag,solar windpressure (with significant electromagnetic effects),sublimation,mutual collisions, and the dynamical effects of planets (Backman, D., 1997).

The lifetimes of these dust particles are very short compared to the lifetime of the Solar System. If one finds grains around a star that is older than about 10,000,000 years, then the grains must have been from recently released fragments of larger objects, i.e. they cannot be leftover grains from theprotoplanetary disk(Backman, private communication).^{[citation needed]}Therefore, the grains would be "later-generation" dust. The zodiacal dust in the Solar System is 99.9% later-generation dust and 0.1% intrudinginterstellar mediumdust. All primordial grains from the Solar System's formation were removed long ago.

Particles which are affected primarily by radiation pressure are known as "beta meteoroids". They are generally less than 1.4 × 10⁻¹²g and are pushed outward from the Sun into interstellar space.^[11]

Cloud structures

An image of aprotoplanetary disk,comparable to images of simulations of the Solar System's interplanetary dust cloud, which has been suggested to be imaged from beyond it in theOuter Solar System.^[12]

The interplanetary dust cloud has a complex structure (Reach, W., 1997). Apart from a background density, this includes:

At least 8dust trails—their source is thought to beshort-period comets.
A number of dust bands, the sources of which are thought to beasteroid familiesin themain asteroid belt.The three strongest bands arise from theThemis family,theKoronis family,and theEos family.Other source families include theMaria,Eunomia,and possibly theVestaand/orHygieafamilies (Reach et al. 1996).
At least 2 resonant dust rings are known (for example, the Earth-resonant dust ring, although every planet in the Solar System is thought to have a resonant ring with a "wake" ) (Jackson and Zook, 1988, 1992) (Dermott, S.F. et al., 1994, 1997)

Rings of dust

First ever panorama image of the dust ring of Venus's orbital space, imaged byParker Solar Probe.

Interplanetary dust has been found to form rings of dust in the orbital space of Mercury and Venus.^[13]Venus's orbital dust ring is suspected to originate either from yet undetected Venus trailing asteroids,^[13]interplanetary dust migrating in waves from orbital space to orbital space, or from the remains of the Solar System'scircumstellar disc,out of which itsproto-planetary discand then itself, the Solarplanetary system,formed.^[14]

Dust collection on Earth

In 1951,Fred Whipplepredicted that micrometeorites smaller than 100 micrometers in diameter might be decelerated on impact with the Earth's upper atmosphere without melting.^[15]The modern era of laboratory study of these particles began with the stratospheric collection flights ofDonald E. Brownleeand collaborators in the 1970s using balloons and thenU-2aircraft.^[16]

Although some of the particles found were similar to the material in present-day meteorite collections, thenanoporousnature and unequilibrated cosmic-average composition of other particles suggested that they began as fine-grained aggregates of nonvolatile building blocks and cometary ice.^[17]^[18]The interplanetary nature of these particles was later verified bynoble gas^[19]andsolar flaretrack^[20]observations.

In that context a program for atmospheric collection and curation of these particles was developed atJohnson Space Centerin Texas.^[21]This stratospheric micrometeorite collection, along withpresolar grainsfrom meteorites, are unique sources ofextraterrestrial material(not to mention being small astronomical objects in their own right) available for study in laboratories today.

Experiments

Spacecraft that have carried dust detectors includeHelios,Pioneer 10,Pioneer 11,Ulysses(heliocentric orbit out to the distance of Jupiter),Galileo(Jupiter Orbiter),Cassini(Saturn orbiter), andNew Horizons(seeVenetia Burney Student Dust Counter).

Obscuring effect

The Solar interplanetary dust cloud obscures theextragalactic background light,making observations of it from theInner Solar Systemvery limited.^[12]

Major Review Collections

Collections of review articles on various aspects of interplanetary dust and related fields appeared in the following books:

In 1978Tony McDonnelledited the bookCosmic Dust^[22]which contained chapters^[23]on comets along with zodiacal light as indicator of interplanetary dust, meteors, interstellar dust, microparticle studies by sampling techniques, and microparticle studies by space instrumentation. Attention is also given to lunar and planetary impact erosion, aspects of particle dynamics, and acceleration techniques and high-velocity impact processes employed for the laboratory simulation of effects produced by micrometeoroids.

2001Eberhard Grün,Bo Gustafson, Stan Dermott, and Hugo Fechtig published the bookInterplanetary Dust.^[24]Topics covered^[25]are: historical perspectives; cometary dust; near-Earth environment; meteoroids and meteors; properties of interplanetary dust, information from collected samples; in situ measurements of cosmic dust; numerical modeling of the Zodiacal Cloud structure; synthesis of observations; instrumentation; physical processes; optical properties of interplanetary dust; orbital evolution of interplanetary dust; circumplanetary dust, observations and simple physics; interstellar dust and circumstellar dust disks.

2019 Rafael Rodrigo, Jürgen Blum, Hsiang-Wen Hsu, Detlef V. Koschny,Anny-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd,Jesús Martín-Pintado, Veerle J. Sterken, and Andrew Westphal collected reviews in the bookCosmic Dust from the Laboratory to the Stars.^[26]Included are discussions^[27]of dust in various environments: from planetary atmospheres and airless bodies over interplanetary dust, meteoroids, comet dust and emissions from active moons to interstellar dust and protoplanetary disks. Diverse research techniques and results, including in-situ measurement, remote observation, laboratory experiments and modelling, and analysis of returned samples are discussed.

References

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^Morrison, D.A.; Clanton, U.S. (1979)."Properties of microcraters and cosmic dust of less than 1000 Å dimensions".Proceedings of Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 10th, Houston, Tex., March 19–23, 1979.2.New York: Pergamon Press Inc.: 1649–1663.Bibcode:1979LPSC...10.1649M.Retrieved3 February2022.
^Grün, E.; Zook, H.A.; Fechtig, H.; Giese, R.H. (May 1985)."Collisional balance of the meteoritic complex".Icarus.62(2): 244–272.Bibcode:1985Icar...62..244G.doi:10.1016/0019-1035(85)90121-6.Retrieved23 January2022.
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^Shekhtman, Svetlana (8 March 2021)."Serendipitous Juno Detections Shatter Ideas About Zodiacal Light".NASA.Retrieved8 May2022.While there is good evidence now that Mars, the dustiest planet we know of, is the source of the zodiacal light, Jørgensen and his colleagues cannot yet explain how the dust could have escaped the grip of Martian gravity.
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