Interstellar Probe Measurements of Dust in Our Heliosphere

Carey M. Lisse (1) , J. R Szalay (2) , A.R. Poppe (3) , M. Horányi (4) , V. Sterken (5) , C. Beichmann (6) , B. Draine (2) , Rosine Lallement (7) , Anny Chantal Levasseur-Regourd (8) , M. Zemcov (9)

1 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
2 Department of Astrophysical Sciences [Princeton]
3 SSL - Space Sciences Laboratory [Berkeley]
4 LASP - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics [Boulder]
5 ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]
6 IPAC - Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
7 GEPI - Galaxies, Etoiles, Physique, Instrumentation
8 PLANETO - LATMOS
9 Rochester Institute of Technology

Micron sized dust grains are present throughout the heliosphere as both interplanetary dust (IPD) and interstellar dust (ISD) particles . Dust sources include grinding main belt asteroids, sputtered KBOs in the EKB, and sublimating comets throughout, while sinks include solar radiation pressure and evaporation. The full shape and structure of the solar system's dust disks are poorly understood because we live inside of them; we especially do not understand the outer disks regions since near-Sun cometary contributions dominate near-Earth space and only 1 spacecraft, New Horizons, has ever flown a dust counter through the EKB. The ability to map the radial gradient of interplanetary dust grain composition(s) provides strong constraints on the masses and compositions of their parent relic bodies, and thus their origin and evolution in the solar system. ISD grains from the local galactic environment continuously flow through our heliosphere after passing through the ISM-heliosphere boundary. Each ISD grain carries critical compositional information, delivering matter that may resemble the original solid building blocks of our solar system. Despite decades of observations, understanding the ISD flux and its directional variability remains an unfinished and challenging task. In-situ measurements of ISD grains from 1-1000 AU are critical to understand the flux and composition of ISD, and how the heliosphere filters and interacts with this material.

Domains: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic [astro-ph.IM]

Carey M. Lisse, J. R Szalay, A.R. Poppe, M. Horányi, V. Sterken, et al.. Interstellar Probe Measurements of Dust in Our Heliosphere. AGU Fall Meeting 2020, Dec 2020, Online, United States. ⟨insu-03133655⟩