Study of grain compositions in comet Levy 1990XX

Abstract

In the present work, the non-spherical dust grain characteristics of comet Levy 1990XX with different silicate grain compositions (both pyroxene and olivine) are studied using the T-matrix method. Considering amorphous pyroxene grain (Mg${}_x$Fe${}_{1-x}$SiO${}_3$) with $x$ (= 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.95, 1) and amorphous olivine grain (Mg${}_{2y}$Fe${}_{2-2y}$SiO${}_4$) with $y$ (= 0.4, 0.5) (Dorschner et al. 1995), the observed polarization data of comet Levy1990XX are analyzed using the T-matrix code at $\lambda$ = 0.485 $\mu m$.

9 pages, 5 figures