AST-9615604 Daniel Boice An intensive international observing campaign is focussing on comet Hale-Bopp as it reaches perihelion in April, 1997. Using existing observations and those anticipated from the campaign, this research team will construct a global model of Hale-Bopp using an existing suite of computer codes. The goal is to use this global model to make predictions of the comet's behavior to aid in the collection of additional data and to help understand its physico-chemical nature, in particular the mixing ratios of volatiles relative to water to ascertain the icy composition of the nucleus. This award is supported jointly by the Division of Astronomical Sciences and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences at NSF. ========================================
