Interplanetary dust between 1 and 5 AU |
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| Authors: | John E Stanley S Fred Singer Jose M Alvarez |
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| Institution: | Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 USA;Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 USA;NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 23365 USA |
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| Abstract: | Analyses of the data from the Meteoroid Detection Experiment (MDE) and the Imaging Photopolarimeter (IPP) aboard Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 have led to contradictory conclusions. While the MDE indicates a significant particle environment in the outer solar system (out to at least 5 AU), the IPP sees no zodiacal light (therefore implying no small particles) past 3.3 AU. We reconcile the two results by noting that the spectral index, p relating particle radius, s, and particle concentration, n(s), i.e., dn(s) = Cs?pds], is not a constant in the solar system, but changes from p < 2 near 1 AU to p > 2.5 at 5 AU for particles in the range of 10 μm. The MDE value of p = 1.8 at 1 AU is in agreement with previous satellite measurements, while our earlier analysis of the Pioneer 10 Jovian encounter data indicated p > 2.5 at 5 AU. A joint analysis of the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 MDE data also indicates that p > 2.5 in the outer solar system. We show that a varying spectral index violates a major assumption used in the interpretation of the IPP data, which in turn had led to the conclusion that zodiacal dust is absent beyond 3.3 AU. With p a function of solar distance, the MDE data is now consistent with the IPP data, thus indicating a significant particle concentration in the outer solar system. |
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