M. H. Jones^1,*, D. Bewsher², D. S. Brown²

¹Department of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK7 6AA, UK.
²Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE, UK.

The gravitational interaction of dust in the zodiacal cloud with individual planets is expected to give rise to ringlike features: Such a circumsolar ring has been observed associated with Earth, but such resonance rings have not been confirmed to exist for other planets. Here, we report on sensitive photometric observations, based on imaging from the STEREO mission, that confirm the existence of a dust ring at the orbit of Venus. The maximum overdensity of dust in this ring, compared to the zodiacal cloud, is ~10%. The radial density profile of this ring differs from the model used to describe Earth’s ring in that it has two distinct steplike components, with one step being interior and the other exterior to the orbit of Venus.

Reference
Jones MH, Bewsher D and Brown DS (2013) Imaging of a Circumsolar Dust Ring Near the Orbit of Venus. Science 342:960-963.
[doi:10.1126/science.1243194]
Reprinted with permission from AAAS

Link to Article