Separate vertical dust structure from the scattering phase function

Characterize the vertical distribution of interplanetary dust independently of the scattering phase function using observations beyond the single Artemis II viewing geometry.

Background

The ZodiSURF comparison favors a vertical dust distribution that broadens toward the Sun, but the result depends on the assumed functional form of the radial dependence and on the adopted scattering physics. Because the observation provides only one viewing geometry, the vertical density structure and scattering phase function cannot be uniquely inferred separately. Additional viewing geometries or independent constraints are needed to resolve this degeneracy.