Interstellar dust models towards some IUE stars

Abstract

We present a study of interstellar extinction towards certain directions in our galaxy defined by about 59 stars which were observed by the IUE satellite. The observed UV extinction curves have been modeled by making light scattering calculations based on Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) for extinction efficiencies of composite dust grains which is made up of a host silicate spheroid and graphite inclusions. The study indicates that smaller dust grains are more efficient for the directions in the galaxy where observed Rv values are found to be low.