STEREO SECCHI and S/WAVES Observations of Spacecraft Debris Caused by Micron-Size Interplanetary Dust Impacts
Résumé
Early in the STEREO mission observers noted that the white-light instruments of the SECCHI suite were detecting significantly more spacecraft-related ``debris'' than any previously flown coronagraphic instruments. Comparison of SECCHI ``debris storms'' with S/WAVES indicates that almost all are coincident with the most intense transient emissions observed by the radio and plasma waves instrument. We believe the debris is endogenous ( i.e., from the spacecraft thermal blanketing), and the storms appear to be caused by impacts of large interplanetary dust grains that are detected by S/WAVES. Here we report the observations, compare them to interplanetary dust distributions, and document a reminder for future spacebased coronagraphic instrument builders.