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Science 3 December 1976:
Vol. 194. no. 4269, pp. 1051 - 1053
DOI: 10.1126/science.194.4269.1051
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Articles

Comet West and the Scattering Function of Cometary Dust

EDWARD P. NEY 1 and K. M. MERRILL 1

1 School of Physics and Astronomy University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455

Observations of Comet West (1975n) at wavelengths from 0.5 to 18 microns and at a variety of scattering angles are used to infer the scattering phase function for the cometary dust. This function is strongly peaked in the forward direction. The form of the function indicates that the particles are dielectric grains with radii of approximately 1 micron. Abrupt increases in the intrinsic brightness of the coma (both in scattered sunlight and in thermal emission) are consistent with the projected times of comet fragmentation.

Submitted on July 14, 1976


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