Grün, E., M. Baguhl, D.P. Hamilton, R. Riemann, H.A. Zook,
S.F. Dermott, H. Fechtig, B.A. Gustafson, M.S. Hanner, M. Horanyi,
K.K. Khurana, J. Kissel, M. Kivelson B.-A. Lindblad, D. Linkert, G.
Linkert, I. Mann, J.A.M. McDonnell, G.E. Morfill, C. Polanskey, G.
Schwehm, and R. Srama 1996.
Constraints from Galileo observations on the origin of jovian dust
streams. Nature, 381, 395-398.
On approach to Jupiter in 1992, the dust detector aboard the Ulysses
spacecraft began sensing dust streams: high rate bursts of submicron
sized particles traveling in the same direction. In total, eleven dust
streams were identified*1, and their arrival directions strongly
suggested that the source of this unexpected phenomenon lay in the
jovian system. The streams arrived periodically; before the Jupiter
flyby streams were detected every two weeks, while afterwards a one-
month periodicity was evident. Three possible sources of dust streams
have been proposed: comet Shoemaker-Levy 9*2, Jupiter's gossamer
ring*3, and the volcanoes on Jupiter's satellite Io*4, but definitive
evidence favoring one model has been elusive. Here we report on new
dust stream measurements by Galileo, which confirm a jovian source. In
addition to streams, the Galileo spacecraft also recorded three
intense dust storms of month-long duration with impact rates up to 10
times higher than those observed by Ulysses.
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