Abstract
Scattering and absorption properties at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths are calculated for an interstellar dust model consisting of carbonaceous grains and amorphous silicate grains. Polarization as a function of scattering angle is calculated for selected wavelengths from the infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet. The widely used Henyey-Greenstein phase function provides a good approximation for the scattering phase function at wavelengths between ~0.4 and 1 μm but fails to fit the calculated phase functions at shorter and longer wavelengths. A new analytic phase function is presented. It is exact at long wavelengths and provides a good fit to the numerically calculated phase function for λ > 0.27 μm. Observational determinations of the scattering albedo and ⟨cos θ⟩ show considerable disagreement, especially in the ultraviolet. Possible reasons for this are discussed.