Abstract
A certain type of impulsive signal in the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) electric field data has been identified as impacts of small dust, nanodust, entrained by the solar wind and accelerated to solar wind speeds, so that their speed compensates, in the emitted cloud, for their small size. It is argued here that these signals, called single hit signals, are not due to nanodust nor to dust impacts at all, as they have some characteristics which are not compatible with random hits by interplanetary and interstellar dust. The major observational data for the flux of nanodust are then in question. Another cause of these signals, however, is not given, and their cause is unknown.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 7211-7219 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics |
| Volume | 123 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was carried out with the support of NASA grants NNX11AB46G and NNX08AT81G. P. J. K. thanks Ingrid Mann for valuable discussion concerning available data on dust in the heliosphere. The data that are not in publicly accessible media are contained in the supporting information.
Publisher Copyright:
©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
- dust impacts
- nanodust