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Trajectories of charged dust grains in the cometary environment

Horanyi, M.; Mendis, D. A.

Using a simple model of the particles and fields environment of a comet, the trajectories of the smallest (micron- and submicron-sized) dust grains that are expected to be released from a cometary nucleus are calculated. It is shown that electromagnetic forces play a crucial role in the dynamics of these particles. The present calculations indicat…