lundi 15 juin 2009, par Ingrid Mann (Kindai University, Higashi-Osaka, Osaka, Japan)
Mardi 30 juin 2009 à 11h00 , Lieu : Salle de confĂ©rence du bât. 17
Interstellar dust plays a major role in the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium and for the formation of stars and their planetary systems. The motion of the Sun relative to the surrounding interstellar medium causes a direct flow of interstellar dust into the solar system. During the past years the interstellar dust flux has been measured with dust detectors on spacecraft in the inner solar system approximately between the orbits of Mercury and Jupiter. Current understanding of the interstellar dust, however, is based on astronomical observations. The astronomical observations reveal the light scattering and thermal emission properties of interstellar dust and these often show similarities to the observed properties of cometary dust in the solar system. The interstellar dust measurements from spacecraft are so far limited to the detection of dust fluxes and measurements of the mass and velocity of the particles, yet they reveal a different picture of interstellar dust and of the local interstellar medium surrounding the solar system.
