Examining the Range of Cometary Dust Characteristics with the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer

Cometary dust provides insight into the composition of nuclei, as well as the forces behind its ejection and evolution. In this work, we will explore the characteristics of dust as seen in the near-nucleus environments around more than 100 active comets that were observed by the Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WISE) mission. WISE conducted an all-sky survey at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths (3.4, 4.6, 12, and 22 microns) between January and December 2010. Many of the comets detected showed comae, tails, and/or trails, making this a rich dataset with which to examine the ensemble properties of cometary dust in the Solar System. Our work includes computing thermal fits for the dust, creating color temperature maps, and constraining the grain size distributions around the comets. With these results, we aim to provide context for the Rosetta mission results as well as a broad understanding of the range of cometary dust traits within the Solar System.