Some recent developments in gravitoelectrodynamics of charged dust in cosmic environments Original Research Article

The motion of charged circumplanetary dust particles under the combined influence of gravitational and electrodynamic forces of comparable magnitude (“gravito-electrodynamics”) was first discussed by Mendis and Axford (1974) over 25 years ago. This area got a major boost in the early eighties with the Voyager spacecraft observation of peculiar dust features in Saturnʹs rings (e.g. the so called “spokes”) which could not be explained by gravitational forces alone but could be easily explained by the inclusion of electrodynamic forces on the fine dust grains which were necessarily electrically charged. Since then the progress in the field has been steady with applications also to the dust tails of comets. More recently the role of gravito-electrodynamics in the solar system was underscored by the Ulysses and Galileo observation of periodic, collimated beams of high speed grains emanating from Jupiter. In this brief review I will discuss these as well as the possible role of electrical charging on the transport of dust (Al2O3 spherules) injected in large quantities into the terrestrial magnetosphere during solid rocket propellant burns. I will conclude with some comments on the role of gravitoelectrodynamic effects on the fine dust forming a circum-solar ring around 4 solar radii.