Dear Extropes,
In the January 2001 Sky and Telescope magazine, pg 56-63, you will
find the following article:
"Dusty Phenomena in the Solar System"
by Amara Graps and Antal Juhasz
It should be appearing in the magazine stands in the U.S. in the next
days or week. (non-U.S., approximately one month later).
Quick Summary:
This article gives a description of dust phenomena in the solar
system: what is detected, where it comes from, where it goes, and what
physics govern the dust particles' behavior. Some interesting
phenomena such as dust levitation, Saturn's B ring spokes, Jupiter's
ring halo, and comet dust tails are described (words, pictures).
I include some charming dust poetry written by our own Tanya Jones
(Foresight Institute).
I was told by the magazine senior editor that it's the first time he's
seen this topic so thoroughly treated in the popular press. This is
my first venture into the "big" popular science magazine arena. I
hope that you like it.
Amara
P.S. One item I discuss in my article is a piece of news for many:
A meteor radar station in New Zealand, the Advanced Meteor Orbit Radar
station, has been collecting data of about 1000 radar meteors per day,
of which 2 per day are interstellar in origin (not bound to the
Sun). After some years of collecting data, there is enough data
(thousands of detections) to show that one clear source of the
interstellar dust particles (about 40 microns in size) is the nearby
star beta Pictoris.
--********************************************************************* Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1 +49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps ********************************************************************* "Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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