ALBERT

Description: The 3-200-micron emission of Comet Halley is characterized theoretically by means of numerical simulations. Models with different populations of refractory dust grains are developed, applying compositional and spectral constraints based on ground-based and spacecraft observations. The results are presented in extensive graphs and discussed in detail. Best agreement between predicted and observed Halley emission is obtained for models with 8-40 times more crystalline silicate grains (by mass) than amorphous carbon grains. For the silicate grains, the predominance of large grains and thin carbonaceous coatings are found to account for the lack of a 10-micron silicate feature and the dark appearance of the comet, respectively.

Description: The infrared measurements of comets, the compositional information available from interplanetary dust particles (IDPs), and the recent results of flybys to Comet Halley can help in restricting the nature and composition of cometary dust models (c.f., Proceedings of the 20th ESLAB Symposium on Exploration of Halley's Comet, 1986). Researchers tried to incorporate some of these results into a coherent model to account for the observed cometary infrared emission. The presence of 10 and 3.4 micron features in Comet Halley (c.f. Bregman et al. 1987; Wickramasinghe and Allen 1986) indicated the presence of at least two components in the grain material, namely silicates and some form of amorphous carbon. These two components could reside in separate grains or may be parts of composite particles. Both these cases have been considered (see Krishna Swamy el a. 1988a, 1988b). In the absence of refractive index data for cometary analogs, the authors used the optical constants of olivine-rich lunar material 12009.48 (Perry et al. 1972) for the infrared region and that of alpha:C-H film for amorphous carbon (angus et al. 1986). For the visible region, a value of m = 1.38-0.39i was used for the silicates, and values published by Arakawa et al. (1985) were used for the amorphous carbon. These materials should give a representative behavior of the expected results. The model results were compared to observational data. The strength of the 3.4 micron and 10 micron features relative to the adjacent continuum, as well as the slope of the continuum between 2500 and 1250 cm(exp -1) (4 to 8 microns), were used as criteria for comparison. Model calculations with alpha approx. equals -3.5, and also the size distribution function inferred for Comet Halley, with a mass fraction (X) of silicate to amorphous carbon grains of about 40 to 1 can fit the data. A good match is obtained for the infrared spectra of Comets Halley and West from a 40 to 1 mixture of silicate and amorphous carbon grains with a a(exp -3.5) size distribution function. The results are consistent with compositional constraints provided by interplanetary dust particles (IPDs) and Halley flyby data. The variation of grain temperature with heliocentric distance appears to account for the major changes observed in cometary spectra.

Description: Structure has been observed in the 3-3.6 micron preperihelion spectrum of Comet Halley consistent with either an absorption band near 3.1 microns or emission near 3.3 microns. The results suggest that a large fraction of the water molecules lost by the comet are initially ejected in the form of small ice particles rather than in the gas phase.

Description: A brief history of the observations which have led to the hypothesis that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's) are the carriers of the widespread interstellar emission features near 3050, 1615, '1300' and 890 cm(exp -1) (3.29, 6.2, '7.7', and 11.2 mu m) is presented. The central role of airborne spectroscopy is stressed. The principal reason for the assignment to PAH's was the resemblance of the interstellar emission spectrum to the laboratory absorption spectra of PAH's and PAH-like materials. Since precious little information was available on the properties of PAH's in the forms that are thought to exist under interstellar conditions -isolated and ionized in the emission zones, with the smallest PAH's being dehydrogenated- there was a need for a spectral data base on PAH's taken in these states. Here, the relevant infrared spectroscopic properties of PAH's will be reviewed. These laboratory spectra show that relative band intensities are severely altered and that band frequencies shift. It is shown that these new data alleviate several of the spectroscopic criticisms previously leveled at the hypothesis.

Description: Airborne 5-8-micron spectra of southern IRAS sources are presented which display the strong PAH emission features. The sources studied include those in a previous paper (Cohen et al, 1986) and NGC 6302, HR 4049, and CPD -56 deg 8032. A good correlation is found between the intensity ratio of the 7.7-micron feature relative to the FIR dust continuum and nebular C/O ratio, supporting a carbonaceous carrier for these emission features. In addition, a weak PAH band is detected near 5.2 microns in several sources.

Description: A general process for creating complete, continuous, and absolutely calibrated 1-35 micron stellar spectra is described. The method is demonstrated by constructing an absolutely calibrated 1-35 micron spectrum of Alpha Tau and the method is independently validated using new observations. The absolute calibration of the IRAS low resolution spectrometer (LRS) data base is investigated by comparing the observed spectrum of Alpha Tau with that assumed in the original LRS calibration scheme. An analysis of asteroidal LRS spectra results in an independent assessment of the calibration problems with the LRS and provides a natural complement to the effort based on Alpha Tau. A direct comparison of LRS stellar spectra with independently calibrated long-wavelength airborne and ground-based spectra is made.

Description: Efforts are described to establish a network of calibrated infrared spectra of 'standard stars' suitable for calibration of at least low-resolution infrared spectrometers using ground-based, airborne, and satellite-borne broadband sensors. Emphasis is given to the crucial 5-8 micron region in K and M giants, where the fundamental bands of CO and SiO cause substantial departures from featureless pseudocontinua. The invalidity of the blackbody assumption in the thermal infrared regime is pointed out by demonstrating the importance of these molecular features in cold giants stars in the airborne infrared regime and illustrating their influence on spectra calibrated using blackbody assumptions.