Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter have been exploring the zodiacal dust cloud for over 5 years. Now is an excellent time to draw together a summary of the first phases of these missions, and look ahead to the years to come.
We are therefore delighted to announce that a workshop "Exploring the zodiacal cloud with PSP and SolO : results and prospects" will be held during the week of October 21st-26th, 2024, at the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France. The workshop goal is to bring together the community of dust scientists working on these missions and more generally specialists of the interplanetary dust cloud.
We will address fundamental questions about the inner solar system dust cloud that SolO and PSP help us answer. We will discuss the data collected as well as the measurement techniques used by these missions - in particular the modeling of radio antennas response to dust impacts. A session will also be dedicated to the preparation for dust science in the next phases of these missions.
Topics covered
The big picture: open questions on the zodiacal cloud that SolO/PSP measurements can help us answer
SolO and PSP observations using electric and magnetic field sensors: data processing, signal recognition, derivation of mass fluxes and other properties of the dust cloud
The physics of dust detection : how are the electric and magnetic signals produced? Theoretical and numerical modeling, ground experiments and in-situ observations.
Imagers measurements: Observations of the dust cloud using white light imgers on PSP and SolO.
Modeling the interplanetary dust cloud: fluxes, dynamics, constraints from PSP/SolO measurements and predictions for measurements to come.
Dust detection on other spacecraft: reviews of works on Wind, STEREO, Cassini, MMS…
Preparing the next years/extended phase of PSP/SolO
Impact signals on missions to come: Comet Interceptor, Uranus Pathfinder, Interstellar probe, DESTINY+, IMAP...
Scientific Organizing Committee
Stuart Bale (SSL / University of California, Berkeley) Milan Maksimovic (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris) David Malaspina (LASP / University of Colorado) Ingrid Mann (The Arctic University of Norway) Jamey Szalay (Princeton University) Arnaud Zaslavsky (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris)
Local Organizing Commitee
Sylvain Cnudde (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris) Milan Maksimoic (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris) Kristina Racković Babić (LPC2E) Yamina Saghi (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris) Arnaud Zaslavsky (LESIA / Observatoire de Paris)
Schedule
The workshop starts on Monday 21 October and ends on Friday 25 October. Wednesday 23rd will be a day off. Two special sessions will be devoted to a tutorial on how to use the dust data available, and to preparing for the extended phases of these two missions.
A detailed program will be made available in september.
(I would advice to stay close to Montparnasse, from there the train line N drives you to the Bellevue station in 15 minutes. Then you have around 15 minutes walk to the observatory).