The following document lists the file abstract/LCOLANGE_EXTRACT.abs
from catalogue VI/111.
A plain copy of the file
(without headers/trailers) may be downloaded.
===================================================================== ==> In this proposal, more time is being requested for CONTRAST.LCOLANGE ===================================================================== The goal of this proposal is to extend the study started with the ISO program CONTRAST, aimed at analysing dynamical and composition properties of grains emitted from comet nuclei and present in their trails. Comets, the best reservoir of pristine cosmic dust in the solar system, have been the subject of past space missions (e.g. Giotto) and will be the target of the next ESA ambitious Rosetta project. The ISO facility is a powerful tool for imaging analysis of faint cometary dust trails and comae, not detectable by means of ground-based observations. Moreover, the ISO data represent a key to better interpret ground-based observations in the visible range, for the target comets. In our previous ISO program CONTRAST we planned coma and trail observations of 46P/Wirtanen (Nov.'96), the prime target of the Rosetta mission, and of 65P/Gunn (Mar.'96), both members of the Jupiter family, to gain information on dynamical, morphological and chemical properties of solid particles distributed in the coma and trail. ISO data, combined with visible ground-based observations and used as input of models, allow us to determine grain characteristics. On this ground, the present project is aimed at extending our approach to a larger set of comets, mainly pertaining to the Jupiter family. Such a systematic analysis will allow us to identify variation ranges and possible similarities in typical physical parameters of such objects. The scientific follow-up has to be considered also in the perspective of the Rosetta mission. The results of the present project will improve our knowledge of cometary bodies and, more specifically, will help to better define the objectives and operational plan of the Rosetta mission.