Astron. Astrophys. 319, 694-698 (1997)

5. Conclusions

We have reported new photopolarimetric observations on comet Hyakutake taken in three continuum wavebands. These are compared with the polarization data from various groups on comet P/Halley to find any resemblance between comet Halley and comet Hyakutake. It is noticed that both the comets show almost similar wavelength and phase dependence of polarization percentage. However, to make any definitive statement, more data on comet Hyakutake covering large phase angle range are required. The present observations for the polarization at three continuum wavebands and two phase angles are also compared with a theoretical model calculation which is based on the Mie scattering. Different grain size distributions and refractive indices are used at different wavebands. The observations exhibit reasonable agreement with the theoretical results. The same is true with the data on comet Halley. From the present study we would like to infer that comet Hyakutake is of similar type as comet Halley and must have dust grain size distribution and refractive indices as those for comet P/Halley.

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1997

Online publication: July 3, 1998
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