Dust particles from afar
When in 1990 the solar probe Ulysses embarked on its 19-year-long exploration tour, the participating researchers turned their attention not only to our Sun, but also to significantly smaller research objects: interstellar dust particles advancing from the depth of space into our solar system. Ulysses was the first mission with the goal to measure these tiny visitors and successfully detected more than 900 of them. Researchers under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany and the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Switzerland present a comprehensive analysis of this largest data set of interstellar particles in three articles published today in the magazine The Astrophysical Journal. Their conclusion: Within the solar system velocity and flight direction of the dust particles can change more strongly than previously thought.