A fine mist of very small comet dust particles

A comet nucleus considered as an aggregate of interstellar dust would produce a mist of very finely divided (radius ∼ 0.01 μm) particles of carbon and metal oxides accompanying the larger dust grains. These small particles which are very abundant in the interstellar dust size spectrum would provide substantial physical effects because of their large surface area. They may show up strongly in particle detectors on the Halley probes. A strong basis for serious consideration of these particles comes from the other evidence that interstellar dust grains are the building blocks of comets; e.g. (1) the explanation of the “missing” carbon in comets; (2) The S 2 molecule detection which suggests that the comet solid ice materials have been previously subjected to ultraviolet radiation (as are interstellar grains) before aggregation into the comet; (3) the predicted dust to gas ratio.