Submillimeter Continuum Observations of Comets. Dr. Jewitt will make a detailed investigation of the submillimeter continua of comets, using primarily the 15 meter diameter James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The submillimeter wavelength region of the cometary continuum is essentially unexplored. Only a small number of comets have yet been observed in the millimeter and submillimeter regions of the spectrum. The submillimeter continuum from comets is produced by thermal emission from the nucleus and from large grains in the coma. The large grains present a small fraction of the total cross section in cometary dust, but they may carry a large fraction of the total grain mass. Therefore, measurements of the large grains are of unique value in the study of the mass production rates of comets.
