Cometary dust properties retrieved from polarization observations: Application to C/1995 O1 Hale–Bopp and 1P/Halley

Abstract

The analysis of the polarized light scattered by cometary dust particles provides information on the physical properties of the solid component of cometary comae for C/1995 O1 Hale–Bopp and 1P/Halley. A model of light scattering by a size distribution of aggregates of up to 256 submicron-sized grains (spherical or spheroidal) mixed with single spheroidal particles has been developed, with its parameters adjusted to fit the phase angle and wavelength dependence of the polarization observations. The particles are built of two materials: a non-absorbing silicates-type material and a more absorbing organic-type material. The model reproduces accurately the inversion angle and the positive branch of the polarization phase curves from the visible to the near-infrared spectral domains. A negative branch of the polarization phase curves appears in our model, although the negative branch is not deep enough to reproduce accurately the observations. Significant differences are shown between the two comets, with dominance of small grains in the coma of Comet C/1995 O1 Hale–Bopp, well fitted by a distribution of the volume-equivalent diameter, a, following a −3.0 with a lower cutoff around 0.20 μm and an upper cutoff of at least 40 μm. For 1P/Halley, the size distribution follows a −2.8 with a lower cutoff around 0.26 μm and an upper cutoff of about 38 μm. The relative amount of organic-type particles is larger for 1P/Halley while the amount of aggregates, significant for both comets, is larger for C/1995 O1 Hale–Bopp.