[Previous] | [Session 24] | [Next]
A.V. Krivov (U. Potsdam), H. Krueger (MPI-K, Heidelberg), M. Horanyi (U. Colorado), F. Spahn (U. Potsdam)
The break up of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) in 1992 shortly before the fragment train spectacularly crashed into Jupiter must have produced a copious amount of dust. It has been suggested (e.g., Horányi 1994, GRL 21, 1039--1042) that in about ten years following the SL9 disruption a fraction of material would settle in retrograde orbits well inside the jovian magnetosphere. In an attempt to find any evidence for the SL9 dust in the jovian system, we analyzed dust detector data of the Galileo spacecraft obtained from 1996 through 2001 between the orbits of the Galilean satellites.
We have selected dust events probably caused by impacts of dust grains in retrograde orbits and derived yearly averages of the dust number density in that region.
Our preliminary results seem to indicate a perceptible variation of the number density of the retrograde dust population with time, which might be attributed to the SL9 dust.
Scarcity of the dataset prevents us from making firm conclusions, however. Furthermore, a direct comparison of the simulation results and the detector data is hampered by the fact that the theory and the measurements cover somewhat different time spans (2002 vs 1996--2001) and spatial regions (4--6 vs 6--30 jovian radii from the planet).
If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries,
it is as follows:
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #3< br> © 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.