Many interplanetary dust particles collected in Earth’s stratosphere spent millions of years exposed to solar radiation during their journey from sources beyond Neptune, namely the distant Kuiper belt. These Kuiper belt particles are a previously unrecognized population contributing to the zodiacal cloud and to the mass of dust accreted annually by Earth.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Nesvorný, D. et al. Cometary origin of the zodiacal cloud and carbonaceous micrometeorites. Implications for hot debris disks. Astrophys. J. 713, 816–836 (2010). This paper proposes a dust model for the origin of the zodiacal cloud.
Poppe, A. R. An improved model for interplanetary dust fluxes in the outer Solar System. Icarus. 264, 369–386 (2016). This paper describes the dust mass and dust production in the Kuiper belt.
Bradley, J. P., Brownlee, D. E. & Fraundorf, P. Discovery of nuclear tracks in interplanetary dust. Science 226, 1432–1434 (1984). This paper reports the detection of tracks in IDPs using TEM methods.
Christoffersen, R. & Buseck, P. R. Mineralogy of interplanetary dust particles from the ‘olivine’ infrared class. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 78, 53–66 (1986). This paper is a systematic study of olivine-rich IDPs and their space exposure ages.
Keller, L. P., Berger, E. L., Zhang, S. & Christoffersen, R. Solar energetic particle tracks in lunar samples: A transmission electron microscope calibration and implications for lunar space weathering. Met. Planet. Sci. 56, 1685–1707 (2021). This paper reports the track production rate calibration used to determine IDP exposure ages.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This is a summary of: Keller, L. P. et al. Evidence for a significant Kuiper belt dust contribution to the zodiacal cloud. Nat. Astron. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01647-6 (2022).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dust from the outer Solar System comes down to Earth. Nat Astron 6, 645–646 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01662-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01662-7
