Interstellar extinction by cometary organic grain clumps |
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Authors: | F. Hoyle N. C. Wickramasinghe |
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Affiliation: | (1) Dept. of Applied Mathematics and Astronomy, University College, Cardiff, Wales, U.K. |
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Abstract: | The observed features of the interstellar extinction curve in both the Galaxy and in the external galaxies LMC and SMC are explained on the basis of a model involving clumps of hollow or porous organic particles with an overall volume filling factor of 0.1. The hollow organic particles have a ready explanation in terms of the bacterial grain model. The visual and near infrared observations of extinction are fitted by a size distribution of such aggregates similar to the distribution law discovered for the larger grains in Halley's comet, but with a cutoff at low radii taken at 0.5 m for the Galaxy and 0.3 and 0.4 , respectively, for SMC and LMC. Fine tuning of the theoretical extinction curve to fit observational data in the ultraviolet involves variable contributions from small condensed polymeric units of typical radius 0.012 m and graphite particles of radii 0.02 . These particle species may be regarded as being derived from the primary distribution of clumps. The implication is that cometary sources could provide a major component of the grains in interstellar space. |
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