Physical properties of dust particles in cometary comae: from clues to evidence with the Rosetta mission

Anny Chantal Levasseur-Regourd (1) , Alessandra Rotundi (2, 3) , M.S. Bentley (4) , V. Della Corte (3) , M. Fulle (5) , Edith Hadamcik (1) , M. Hilchenbach (6) , D. Hines (7) , Jérémie Lasue (8) , S. Merouane (6) , Jean-Baptiste Renard (9)

1 PLANETO - LATMOS
2 PARTHENOPE - Università degli Studi di Napoli “Parthenope” = University of Naples
3 IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali - INAF
4 IWF - Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences
5 OAT - INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
6 MPS - Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung
7 STSci - Space Telescope Science Institute
8 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
9 LPC2E - Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l'Environnement et de l'Espace

Physical properties of dust in cometary comae have first been approached through unique flyby missions and numerous remote observations of the intensity and polarization of the solar light they scatter. Clues to size distribution, morphology, refractive index of dust particles, and to their variations within comae have been derived from polarimetric data. The Rosetta rendezvous mission to 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko (hereafter 67P) is now confirming previous estimations and providing detailed evidence about the dust physical properties, through sophisticated measurements obtained in different regions of the coma and for different solar distances.

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]; Solar and Stellar Astrophysics [astro-ph.SR]

Anny Chantal Levasseur-Regourd, Alessandra Rotundi, M.S. Bentley, V. Della Corte, M. Fulle, et al.. Physical properties of dust particles in cometary comae: from clues to evidence with the Rosetta mission. European Planetary Science Congress 2015, Sep 2015, Nantes, France. pp.EPSC2015-932. ⟨insu-01211564⟩