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G. C. Clayton, W. Wu (Louisiana State University), M. J. Wolff (SSI), U. J. Sofia (Whitman College), K. D. Gordon (Steward Obs.)
Understanding interstellar dust and its role in the universe is very important. Virtually all observations of astrophysical objects and their physical processes are affected by the presence of dust either within the system being studied or along its line of sight. We are using observations of the extinction due to interstellar dust in the far ultraviolet (FUV) to significantly improve our knowledge of dust properties, specifically those of small grains. Such an advance has not been possible prior to the advent of FUSE and its unique capabilities: the high FUV throughput and the ability to resolve H2 lines, combined with a well-characterized instrumental calibration. We have derived FUV extinction curves for several types of sightlines in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds which possess distinct signatures associated with the small grain population and whose mid-UV extinction curves reveal vastly differing amounts of intermediate-sized particles. These data will be used to probe and constrain the properties of the small dust grains, such as abundance and size, and their connection to the very different environments observed.