Interplanetary Dust Structures
The interplanetary dust cloud has a complex structure (Reach, W., 1997). Apart from a background density, this includes:
- At least 8 dust trails -- their source is thought to be short-period comets.
- A number of dust bands, the sources of which are thought to be asteroid families in the main asteroid belt. The three strongest bands arise from the Themis family, the Koronis family, and the Eos family. Other source families include the Maria, Eunomia, and possibly the Vesta and/or Hygiea families (Reach et al. 1996).
- At least 2 resonant dust rings are known (for example, the Earth-resonant dust ring, although every planet in the solar system is thought to have a resonant ring with a "wake") (Jackson and Zook, 1988, 1992) (Dermott, S.F. et al., 1994, 1997)
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