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Hypervelocity dust impacts on the Wind spacecraft: Correlations between Ulysses and Wind interstellar dust detections
Author(s) -
Wood S. R.,
Malaspina David M.,
Andersson Laila,
Horanyi Mihaly
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1002/2015ja021463
Subject(s) - physics , ecliptic , hypervelocity , jupiter (rocket family) , interplanetary dust cloud , solar wind , flux (metallurgy) , micrometeoroid , interplanetary spaceflight , astronomy , spacecraft , heliosphere , astrobiology , plasma , solar system , materials science , quantum mechanics , space debris , metallurgy
The Wind spacecraft is positioned just sunward of Earth at the first Lagrange point, while the Ulysses spacecraft orbits above and below the ecliptic plane crossing the ecliptic as far from the Sun as the orbit of Jupiter (∼5 AU). While Wind does not carry a dedicated dust detector, we demonstrate the ability of Wind electric field measurements to detect hypervelocity dust impacts through their impact plasma signatures. Interstellar dust (ISD) and interplanetary dust particles are differentiated based on a yearly modulation of the ISD flux. Measurements of ISD flux variation by Wind are found to be in good agreement with ISD flux variation measured by Ulysses. While measurements of the ISD flow direction through the Solar System determined by Wind could not be directly compared to those from Ulysses, strong variation in ISD flow direction was observed during similar time periods by both spacecraft.