|
Physikalische Gesellschaft Zürich
|
|
The Sun and planets are embedded in the zodiacal dust cloud, originating from comets and asteroids. All of this happens inside the heliosphere, that shields the solar system from Galactic Cosmic Rays and that prevents nanometer-sized interstellar dust particles to enter the solar system. Larger interstellar dust from our interstellar neighbourhood moves through the solar system and can thus be measured by in situ instruments on spacecraft. These provide unique complementary data to the more classical astronomical observations of interplanetary and interstellar dust. The zodiacal dust cloud and heliosphere are also proxies for exoplanet systems with debris disks and/or astrospheres. The dust particles are messengers, providing of information on the origins of the solar system, on the birthplaces of interstellar dust and on processes in the interstellar medium. Their trajectories are also affected by the environment they move through (i.e., our heliosphere) and hence, they can be tracers for environment parameters as well. This talk gives an overview of the fairly unknown but fascinating field of in situ interstellar and interplanetary dust research, comprising in situ measurements, sample return, computer simulations and calibration efforts, in order to provide a complementary perspective to an astronomer's view on local cosmic dust. The talk will end with prospects for near-future missions with dust measurements that are planned.
|
|
Physikalische Gesellschaft Zürich E-Mail: pgz_info at pgz.ch Web: http://www.pgz.ch |
[ HOME
]
[ Kontakt
]
[ Site Map
]
[ Design
]
Zurich local time 4.5.2024 20:46:45 |
Printer Friendly Version |