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L. Jorda, P.L. Lamy, J.-F. Coliac, M. Bout (LAM, Marseille), F. Colas (IMCCE, Paris), J. Lecacheux (LESIA, Paris), H. Rauer, M. Weiler (DLR, Berlin)
We present a technique for modeling cometary dust tails. The technique is based on Monte Carlo simulations of a large number of ``model-images'', recombined linearly to fit the observed CCD image of the dust tail. In essence, our technique is similar (but not identical) to that originally proposed by Kimura and Liu (1975, 1982) and developed by Fulle (1987, 1989), but incorporates new features such as the rigorous calculation of the light scattered by the dust grains. It can be used to interactively retrieve the dust size and velocity distributions and to compute the dust production rate. We present the application of this technique to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the new target of ESA's Rosetta mission and to comets observed with the SOHO/LASCO coronagraphs (C/1996 B2 Hyakutake, C/2002 S2 SOHO 517, C2002 X5 Kudo-Fujikawa, C2002 V1 NEAT and 96P/Machholz 1).\\
-- Fulle, M., A&A 171, 327, 1987.\\ -- Fulle, M., A&A 217, 283, 1989.\\ -- Kimura, H., and Liu, C.-P., AcASn 16, 138, 1975.\\ -- Kimura, H., and Liu, C.-P., AcASn 23, 232, 1982.\\
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35 #4
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.