Detection of an impact-generated dust cloud around Ganymede (original) (raw)

Nature volume 399, pages 558–560 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Dust pervades the Solar System, and is concentrated in the ring systems surrounding the giant planets and along the plane of the planetary orbits (the Zodiacal cloud). Individual dust grains are thought to be generated when impacts loft material from larger bodies20,21,23,24,25,26, 27 such as satellites. Uncertainties in theoretical models of this ejection process are large, and there have hitherto been no direct measurements with which to constrain these models. Here we report in situ measurements of submicrometre dust within a few radii of Jupiter's satellite Ganymede. The directions, speeds and distribution of masses of the grains indicate that they come from Ganymede, and are consistent with an ejection process resulting from hypervelocity impacts of interplanetary dust onto Ganymede's surface. Dust appears also to be concentrated near Callisto and Europa, suggesting that these satellites too are significant sources of dusty debris.

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Figure 1: Galileo's trajectory and geometry of dust detection during the G7 Ganymede fly-by.

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Figure 2: Sensor direction (rotation angle, Θ) versus altitude of the Galileo spacecraft above the surface of Ganymede at the time of dust impact.

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Figure 3: The number density of dust as a function of altitude above the surface of Ganymede.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Galileo project at JPL for effective and successful mission operations. A.K. thanks his colleagues in the Heidelberg dust group for their hospitality and for funding his stay at MPIK. This work was supported by Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Postfach 103980, 69029, Heidelberg, Germany
    Harald Krüger & Eberhard Grün
  2. Astronomical Institute, St Petersburg University, St Petersburg, 198904, Russia
    Alexander V. Krivov
  3. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742-2421, USA
    Douglas P. Hamilton

Authors

  1. Harald Krüger
  2. Alexander V. Krivov
  3. Douglas P. Hamilton
  4. Eberhard Grün

Corresponding author

Correspondence toHarald Krüger.

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Krüger, H., Krivov, A., Hamilton, D. et al. Detection of an impact-generated dust cloud around Ganymede.Nature 399, 558–560 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/21136

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