The near-earth enhancement of asteroidal over cometary dust

The study deals with a theory suggesting a cometary origin for most of the stratospheric cosmic dust. It is argued, though, that the stratospheric cosmic dust, as well as dust sampled by earth-orbiting collectors, is not representative of the true composition of the zodiacal cloud. A substantial near-earth collection bias enhances the low-velocity component in stratospheric and earth-orbiting collectors. This arises from gravitational focusing, which substantially biases all near-earth micrometeorite collections in favor of the low-velocity component of the interplanetary dust, and atmospheric entry heating, which further biases the stratospheric cosmic dust in favor of the low-velocity component of the interplanetary dust. It is noted that, in addition to these two effects, the increasing collision probability between a dust particle and a nongravitating planet will bias the near-earth collection farther in favor of dust with lower geocentric velocity at the collection opportunity.