Modeling light scattering by forsterite particles.

Laboratory optical measurements of forsterite particles reveal remarkably similar light-scattering responses in two samples that were thought to obey different size distributions. These measurements are modeled with irregularly shaped agglomerated debris particles having a refractive index of m=1.6+0.0005i that is representative of forsterite in the visible. Modeling closely reproduces the measurements of both samples, making retrieval of their size distributions possible.