New Horizons Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter Observes Higher than Expected Fluxes Approaching 60 AU
Alex Doner, Mihaly Horanyi, Fran Bagenal, Pontus Brandt, Will Grundy,, Carey Lisse, Joel Parker, Andrew R. Poppe, Kelsi N. Singer, S. Alan Stern,, and Anne Verbiscer

TL;DR
The New Horizons Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter observed higher dust fluxes than models predicted as it approached 60 AU, suggesting a need to revise our understanding of dust distribution in the outer solar system.
Contribution
This study provides new measurements of dust fluxes beyond 55 AU, revealing discrepancies with existing models and highlighting potential extensions of the Kuiper Belt.
Findings
Higher than expected dust fluxes approaching 60 AU
Potential influence of radiation pressure and photo-sputtering on dust distribution
Implications for the extent of the Kuiper Belt
Abstract
The NASA New Horizons Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter (SDC) measures dust particle impacts along the spacecraft's flight path for grains with mass g, mapping out their spatial density distribution. We present the latest SDC dust density, size distribution, and flux measurements through 55 au and compare them to numerical model predictions. Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) are thought to be the dominant source of interplanetary dust particles (IDP) in the outer solar system due to both collisions between KBOs, and their continual bombardment by interstellar dust particles (ISD). Continued measurements through 55 au show higher than model-predicted dust fluxes as New Horizons approaches the putative outer edge of the Kuiper Belt (KB). We discuss potential explanations for the growing deviation: radiation pressure stretches the dust distribution to further heliocentric…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstro and Planetary Science · Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies · Planetary Science and Exploration
