Origin of Interplanetary Dust through Optical Properties of Zodiacal Light

TL;DR

This paper uses optical properties of zodiacal light to determine that over 90% of interplanetary dust particles originate from comets, with minor contributions from certain asteroid types, supporting a cometary dominance in the zodiacal cloud.

Contribution

It introduces a Bayesian inference method to analyze the origin of interplanetary dust based on optical properties, revealing a dominant cometary source.

Findings

Over 90% of IDPs originate from comets.

Optical properties match those of chondritic porous IDPs.

Minor contributions from C-type and X-type asteroids.

Abstract

This study investigates the origin of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) through the optical properties, albedo and spectral gradient, of zodiacal light. The optical properties were compared with those of potential parent bodies in the solar system, which include D-type (as analogue of cometary nuclei), C-type, S-type, X-type, and B-type asteroids. We applied Bayesian inference on the mixture model made from the distribution of these sources, and found that >90% of the interplanetary dust particles originate from comets (or its spectral analogues, D-type asteroids). Although some classes of asteroids (C-type and X-type) may make a moderate contribution, ordinary chondrite-like particles from S-type asteroids occupy a negligible fraction of the interplanetary dust cloud complex. The overall optical properties of the zodiacal light were similar to those of chondritic porous IDPs, supporting the dominance of cometary particles in zodiacal cloud.