MSX Observations of the Zodiacal Cloud
S. Jayaraman, R. G. Walker (VRI), S. D. Price (AFRL)
Data obtained from the SPIRIT III radiometer, aboard the Midcourse
Space Experiment (MSX) satellite, has provided us with new and unique
observations of the Zodiacal cloud in four infrared wavebands between
6.8 to 25.1 microns. Zodiacal measurements were obtained on a
total of 69 observations over the 10 month cryogen phase of the
mission. The observations consist of long scans ( ) at
(nearly) constant ecliptic longitude; about two-thirds of these
scans include the north ecliptic pole. In aggregate, the scans cover
solar elongations between and , far larger than the
IRAS plus COBE limits of to . Thus, the uniqueness
of this data set enables us, for the first time, to systematically
probe the dust distribution in the zodiacal cloud, as well as the
variation in the structure of the cloud, from the sun to the asteroid
belt using data from a single experiment. We present samples of the
data from the as ecliptic pole-to-pole scans taken at the smaller
elongations.