The Rosseland Mean Opacity of Interstellar Grains

We have calculated the opacity of interstellar grains in the temperature range 10 1500 K. Two composite grain models have been considered. One of them consists of silicate coated with an ice mantle and the second has a graphite core coated also with an ice mantle. These models are compared with isolated grain models. An exact analytical and computational development of Güttler's formulae for composite grain models has been used to calculate the extinction coefficient. It has been found that the thickness of the mantle affects the opacity of the interstellar grains. The opacity of composite models differs from that of the isolated models. The effect of the different species (ice, silicate, and graphite) is also clear.