OBSERVATIONS OF THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTRUM OF THE ZODIACAL LIGHT WITH CIBER

Journal Article · Tue Aug 10 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/394· OSTI ID:21457114

Tsumura, K; Matsumoto, T; Matsuura, S; Wada, T ^[1]; Battle, J; Bock, J; Zemcov, M ^[2]; Cooray, A ^[3]; Hristov, V; Levenson, L R; Mason, P; Sullivan, I ^[4]; Keating, B; Renbarger, T ^[5]; Lee, D H; Nam, U W ^[6]; Suzuki, K ^[7]

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1. Department of Infrared Astrophysics, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan)
2. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
3. Center for Cosmology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States)
4. Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States)
6. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)
7. Instrument Development Group of Technical Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602 (Japan)

Interplanetary dust (IPD) scatters solar radiation which results in the zodiacal light that dominates the celestial diffuse brightness at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. Both asteroid collisions and cometary ejections produce the IPD, but the relative contribution from these two sources is still unknown. The low resolution spectrometer (LRS) onboard the Cosmic Infrared Background ExpeRiment (CIBER) observed the astrophysical sky spectrum between 0.75 and 2.1 {mu}m over a wide range of ecliptic latitude. The resulting zodiacal light spectrum is redder than the solar spectrum, and shows a broad absorption feature, previously unreported, at approximately 0.9 {mu}m, suggesting the existence of silicates in the IPD material. The spectral shape of the zodiacal light is isotropic at all ecliptic latitudes within the measurement error. The zodiacal light spectrum, including the extended wavelength range to 2.5 {mu}m using Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) data, is qualitatively similar to the reflectance of S-type asteroids. This result can be explained by the proximity of S-type asteroidal dust to Earth's orbit, and the relatively high albedo of asteroidal dust compared with cometary dust.

• OSTI ID: 21457114
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 719, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/719/1/394; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ABSORPTION
ASTEROIDS
ASTROPHYSICS
BRIGHTNESS
DUSTS
INFRARED SPECTRA
SILICATES
SOLAR RADIATION
SPECTROMETERS
TELESCOPES
ZODIACAL LIGHT
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICS
RADIATIONS
SILICON COMPOUNDS
SORPTION
SPECTRA
STELLAR RADIATION