Krüger, H., E. Grün, M. Landgraf, M. Baguhl, S. Dermott, H. Fechtig, B.A. Gustafson, D.P. Hamilton, M.S. Hanner, M. Horanyi, J. Kissel1, B.A. Lindblad, D. Linkert, G. Linkert, I. Mann, J.A.M. McDonnell, G.E. Morfill, C. Polanskey, G. Schwehm, R. Srama, and H.A. Zook. Three years of Ulysses dust data: II. 1993 to 1995. Planet. Space Sci. 47, 363-383.


The Ulysses spacecraft orbits the Sun on a highly inclined ellipse (i=90). After its Jupiter flyby in 1992 at a heliocentric distance of 5.4 AU, the spacecraft approached the inner solar system, flew over the Sun's south polar region in September 1994, crosses the ecliptic plane at a distance of 1.3 AU in March 1995 and flew over the Sun's north polar region in July 1995. We report on dust impact data obtained with the dust detector onboard Ulysses between January 1993 and December 1995. We publish and analyse the complete data set of 509 recorded impacts of dust particles with masses between 10-16 g to 10-7g. Together with 968 dust impacts from launch until the end of 1992 published earlier, a set of 1477 particles detected with the Ulysses sensor between October 1990 and December 1995 is now available. The impact rate measured between 1993 and 1995 stayed relatively constant at about 0.2 impacts per day and a variation by less than a factor of ten. Most of the recorded impacts are compatible with particles of interstellar origin. Two populations of interplanetary particles have been recognised: big micrometer sized particles close to the ecpliptic plane and small sub-micrometer sized particles above the Sun's polar regions. The observed impact rate is compared with a model for the flux of interstellar dust particles.
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