Dynamics of charged dust in the orbit of Venus

¹ School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Avenue, Nanjing 210046, PR China
e-mail: zhouly@nju.edu.cn
² Institute of Astrophysics, University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180 Vienna, Austria
e-mail: christoph.lhotka@univie.ac.at
³ Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics in Ministry of Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, PR China
⁴ Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstrasse 6, 8042 Graz, Austria
⁵ Department of Mathematics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy
⁶ Faculty of Mathematics, ‘Al. I. Cuza’ University of Iasi, Bd. Carol I., 11, 7000506 Iasi, Romania
⁷ Institute of Space Astronomy and Extraterrestial Exploration (NJU & CAST), Nanjing 210046, PR China

Received: 8 October 2020
Accepted: 4 December 2020

Abstract

We study the dynamics of co-orbital dust in the inner Solar System, that is, the role of the solar radiation pressure, the Poynting-Robertson effect, the solar wind, and the interplanetary magnetic field, on the location, width, and stability of resonant motion of charged and micron-sized dust grains situated in the 1:1 mean motion resonance with Venus. We find deviations and asymmetry between L₄ and L₅ in the locations of the libration centers and libration width caused by nongravitational effects with analytical and numerical methods. The triangular Lagrangian points become unstable when solar radiation pressure, the Poynting-Robertson effect, and solar wind drag are considered. The Lorentz force could further destabilize the orbits, especially for small dust particles. We also compare the circular and/or elliptic restricted three-body model and a more complete model that includes all planets.