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Session 42 - Solar Systems.
Display session, Tuesday, January 16
North Banquet Hall, Convention Center
The COBE Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment performed a ten-band (1.25 to 240 micron) photometric survey and a three-band (1.25 to 3.5 micron) polarimetric survey of the sky from 11 December 1989 to 21 September 1990. The survey covered half the sky each week and the full sky each 6 months. During the course of the survey, the seasonal variation of brightness of each pixel due to the motion of the Earth in the interplanetary dust (IPD) cloud is measured. The data from all wavelengths, except 140 and 240 microns where the IPD signal is quite weak, reveal details of the structure of the IPD cloud. Results to be presented include the spatial variation of the ratio of the albedos for the 1.25 and 2.2 micron bands, the contribution to the sky brightness in the ecliptic plane from dust within 1 A.U. of the Sun, the general structure of the IPD cloud as seen in 'time-lapse' images, and the orientation of the cloud symmetry axes. Comparison is made with results from a quasi-physical model of the cloud, with emphasis on the difficulty of creating a unique, high-fidelity model of the cloud.
NASA/GSFC is responsible for the design, development and operation of COBE. The GSFC, with scientific guidance from the COBE Science Working Group, is also responsible for the development of the analysis software and for the production of the mission data sets.
