On the Possibility of Forming a Plasma–Dust Crystal Near an Atmosphereless Celestial Body

The possibility of forming a strongly coupled state and a dusty plasma crystal near an atmosphereless celestial body has been analyzed for the first time. It has been shown that the necessary conditions for this formation are the possibility of sufficiently large dust particles to rise and levitate above the surface of the celestial body, as well as the existence of dust sources that allow for sufficiently high concentrations of dust particles at altitudes where they can levitate. Comets with a sufficiently high dust content in their nuclei can satisfy these conditions. For such comets, dusty plasma regions can form at altitudes of tens and hundreds of meters, where dust particles are present in a stable equilibrium state. It has been shown that the nonideality parameters of the dusty plasma system can reach and even exceed the critical value for the formation of a dusty plasma crystal. Moreover, the parameters of the dusty plasma system usually correspond to the formation of a bcc crystal lattice. Optical imaging techniques for dust particles, an extension of laboratory dusty plasma imaging techniques, could be used to observe dusty plasma crystals in future space missions. The possibility of forming the strongly coupled state and dusty plasma crystal near other celestial bodies has been discussed. It appears that the strongly coupled plasma state could also arise in active asteroids. It is likely impossible to naturally form the strongly coupled state of the dusty plasma in other atmosphereless bodies in the Solar System (ordinary asteroids, the moons of Mars, the Moon, Mercury, etc.).