Game Changers Online Seminar
with Ingrid Mann (UiT Arctic University of Norway)
recorded on March 27, 2025
Webinar with Ingrid Mann (UiT Arctic University of Norway)
Currently, the Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter space missions are exploring the inner heliosphere, reaching regions near the Sun that have never been visited by spacecraft before. Antenna measurements from both spacecraft are recording dust impacts; similar antenna measurements are being made near Earth orbit by STEREO and WIND. Together, these missions are providing unprecedented measurements of dust fluxes in the inner heliosphere. New space observations of the solar corona study the F-corona, the light from the solar photosphere scattered by dust particles. These observations reveal some of the physical properties of the dust-plasma interactions that occur in many places in space. Most of the dust is formed by asteroids and comets. The dust in the inner heliosphere is therefore associated with the evolution of small objects in the solar system and the processes are like those in the evolution of planetary debris disks observed around other stars. In addition to discussing the results from ongoing measurements, it is shown how they complement other studies and the measurements with dust instruments planned for upcoming space missions.
Ingrid Mann is professor in space physics at UiT, Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Her research lies in cosmic dust and dusty plasma in space, physics of the heliosphere, ionospheres and interstellar medium, meteors, small solar system objects and planetary debris disks. She works with remote observations, model calculations and space instruments on rockets and deep-space missions. Sheobtained a diploma and a doctorate in Physics from Ruhr University Bochum, Germany and has worked in Europe, Japan, and the USA before moving to Norway in 2016.
