Clementine Observations of the Zodiacal Light and the Dust Content of the Inner Solar System

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Hahn, J M, Zook, H A, Cooper, B, Sunkara, B
• Format: Paper
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 07.04.2002
• Subjects: Asteroids; Comets; Cross-sections; Equivalence; Inclination; Inner solar system; Interplanetary dust; Jupiter; Lunar dust; Moon; Oort cloud; Solar system; Spacecraft; Spatial distribution; Surface brightness; Venus; Zodiacal light
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.0204111

Using the Moon to occult the Sun, the Clementine spacecraft used its navigation cameras to map the inner zodiacal light at optical wavelengths over elongations of 3-30 degrees from the Sun. This surface brightness map is then used to infer the spatial distribution of interplanetary dust over heliocentric distances of about 10 solar radii to the orbit of Venus. We also apply a simple model that attributes the zodiacal light as being due to three dust populations having distinct inclination distributions, namely, dust from asteroids and Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), dust from Halley-type comets, and an isotropic cloud of dust from Oort Cloud comets. The best-fitting scenario indicates that asteroids + JFCs are the source of about 45% of the optical dust cross-section seen in the ecliptic at 1 AU, but that at least 89% of the dust cross-section enclosed by a 1 AU radius sphere is of a cometary origin. When these results are extrapolated out to the asteroid belt, we find an upper limit on the mass of the light-reflecting asteroidal dust that is equivalent to a 12 km asteroid, and a similar extrapolation of the isotropic dust cloud out to Oort Cloud distances yields a mass equivalent to a 30 km comet, although the latter mass is uncertain by orders of magnitude.