A COMetary dust TAIL Simulator (COMTAILS)

A Monte Carlo computer code useful to generate cometary dust tail images has been developed and will be made publicly available soon. The code can be used to simulate observed dust tail brightness images of any comet, elliptic, parabolic, or hyperbolic, or active asteroid, losing mass as a certain function of the heliocentric distance. The ejected particles are assumed to be distributed following a differential power-law function within a given size range, and are characterized by having a certain geometric albedo and linear phase coefficient. The forces exerted on the particles are limited to the solar gravity and radiation pressure, so that the code is only applicable at nuclear distances when both the gas drag and nucleus gravity forces vanish. The code, written in FOTRAN  language, calls the JPL's Ephemeris Generator to calculate the object positions and orbital elements, and the observation location is set to the Earth, but can be conveniently replaced by any other observation point, such as a spacecraft. Examples of the code execution for several targets along with comparison with existing images will be provided.