Cometary dust activity is usually explained by a gas drag force which lifts micrometer-sized dust particles from the nucleus' surface against the weak nucleus gravity. However, taking into account the additional cohesion forces among the dust grains then this idea becomes questionable. We present the status of a thermophysical model of dust activity and compare it with observations of the Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
[mehr]
