White-light observations of features in the Zodiacal dust cloud from within the solar corona

Abstract

<p>The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission has completed four solar encounters, observing the solar corona from distances significantly closer to the Sun than from previous missions (to 36 solar radii during the first three perihelia and to 28 solar radii during the fourth). During these encounters, the Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) onboard PSP has been observing the F-corona/Zodiacal light - probing the dust environment in the solar corona as PSP moves through the corona. This allowed WISPR to find 1) a gradual decrease of the expected brightness of the F-corona for distances shorter than about 0.1 AU, 2) dust trails of short-period asteroid/cometary objects (e.g., 3200 Pheathon and 2P/Encke) and 3) a changing rate of dust impacts on the S/C throughout the encounter period. In this presentation, we will present these findings, discuss their nature, and elaborate on the novelty of these results. The authors acknowledge support from the NASA Parker Solar Probe program.</p>