Physical properties of cometary and interplanetary dust

Abstract

In the absence of numerous in situ studies, physical properties of cosmic dust may be derived from observations of their light scattering and thermal properties, through numerical simulations making use of realistic assumptions. Estimations about cometary and interplanetary dust composition, structure, size, as well as about their light scattering and thermal properties, are first summarized. We then present and discuss the numerical simulations we have performed with different types of particles: core-mantle submicron-sized elongated grains (having contributed to the formation of cometary dust), fractal aggregates of such grains (found in cometary comae and in the interplanetary dust cloud), and fractal aggregates of large dust grains (found in cometary dust trails). A very satisfactory fit to the numerous polarimetric observations of comet Hale-Bopp is obtained for a mixture with about 33–60% of organics in mass, with a power law size distribution with an index of (−3) and a radius of 20 μm for the upper cut-off. For the less-constrained polarimetric observations of interplanetary dust near 1 AU, a fit is obtained for a mixture with about 40% of organics in mass, with a similar size distribution and a radius of about 50 μm for the upper cut-off. The ensemble of results obtained for the interplanetary dust strongly suggest that its light scattering and thermal properties stem from the presence of compact and fluffy particles, with compositions ranging from silicates to more absorbing materials, whose contribution decreases with decreasing distance to the Sun.