Evidence for dust accumulation just outside the orbit of Venus

Abstract

To contribute to the knowledge of dynamics of interplanetary dust we are searching for structures in the spatial distribution of interplanetary dust near the orbit of Venus. To this end we study the radial gradient of zodiacal light brightness, as observed by the zodiacal light photometer on board the Helios space probes on several orbits from 1975 to 1979. The cleanest data result from Helios B (= Helios 2) launched in January 1976. With respect to the general increase of zodiacal light brightness towards the Sun, the data show an excess brightness of a few percent for positions of the Helios space probe just outside the orbit of Venus. We consider this as evidence for a dust ring associated with the orbit of Venus, somewhat similar to that found earlier along the Earth's orbit.

7 pages, 8 figures, Astronomy&Astrophysics, accepted

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• A Deep and Wide Twilight Survey for Asteroids Interior to Earth and Venus
• Effects of neighbouring planets on the formation of resonant dust rings in the inner Solar System
• Dynamics of charged dust in the orbit of Venus
• Trojan asteroids and co-orbital dust ring of Venus