The Evolution of the Surface of Symmetry of the Interplanetary Dust from 24° to 5° Elongation

Abstract

Abstract The white-light STEREO/SECCHI images include light scattered by dust in orbit about the Sun (the F-corona). We analyzed the evolution of the symmetry axis of the F-corona between 2007 and 2012 in the elongation range covered by the STEREO-A/HI-1 instrument (4°–24° elongation) to characterize the plane of symmetry of the zodiacal dust cloud. The symmetry axes both above and below the ecliptic plane were derived separately without assuming any particular functional form. No noticeable time dependence was observed. However, we did find an evolution with elongation of both the inclination i and the ascending node of the inferred plane of symmetry. Both parameters appeared fairly constant in the outer half of the elongation range studied ( values close to those of Venus’s orbit). Then, they start to evolve, becoming (i.e., a trend toward the solar equatorial plane) and at about 5° elongation. This variation indicates that the zodiacal dust cloud exhibits a warped plane of symmetry, with an estimated center of symmetry at about from the Sun’s center on the side of the heliosphere containing Jupiter. We found a marginal difference between the inclination of the axes below and above the ecliptic. This is suggestive of an increased dust density distribution at certain fixed longitudes, which could be explained by the dust deposition of Kreutz Sun-grazing comets. We conjecture that the circumsolar dust is mainly affected by gravitational forces, other forces becoming dominant only where the more rapid changes occur.