Nature of Comet Halley's organic grains inferred from infrared spectra

Details Nature of Comet Halley's organic grains inferred from infrared spectra Nature of Comet Halley's organic grains inferred from infrared spectra

Sep 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987esasp.278..635w&link_type=abstract

In ESA, Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Diversity and Similarity of Comets p 635-637 (SEE N88-21884 14-91)

Biology

2

Chemical Composition, Granular Materials, Halley'S Comet, Infrared Spectra, Exobiology, Mie Scattering, Particle Size Distribution

Scientific paper

The infrared radiation from a distribution of organic grains in Halley's coma is compared with astronomical spectra, concentrating on the 3 to 4 micron region which discriminates between compositions. Grain temperatures appropriate to free space are calculated for nonevaporating and chemically charred material making up grains of various sizes. The particle size distribution found by the comet probes is used together with Mie theory to calculate the scattered light and thermal emission. Predictions for a biological composition are compared with the AAT spectrum of Comet Halley on 31 March, 1986. Day-to-day variability is modelled by changes in the size distribution, refractive index relative strength of the scattered component. It may alternatively be due partly to size-dependent chemical cooking and dynamics, superposed on variable output in comet jets. However, a second grain component, potentially biological, with a stronger 3.4 micron feature, is required to explain the 1 April, 1986, spectrum. The suggestion that grains comprised of biological organics can explain the 3.4 micron feature is thus confirmed.

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