화학공학소재연구정보센터
Science, Vol.342, No.6161, 960-963, 2013
Imaging of a Circumsolar Dust Ring Near the Orbit of Venus
The gravitational interaction of dust in the zodiacal cloud with individual planets is expected to give rise to ringlike features: Such a circumsolar ring has been observed associated with Earth, but such resonance rings have not been confirmed to exist for other planets. Here, we report on sensitive photometric observations, based on imaging from the STEREO mission, that confirm the existence of a dust ring at the orbit of Venus. The maximum overdensity of dust in this ring, compared to the zodiacal cloud, is similar to 10%. The radial density profile of this ring differs from the model used to describe Earth's ring in that it has two distinct steplike components, with one step being interior and the other exterior to the orbit of Venus.