Introduction: The knowledge of light scattering from powdered graphite is important in both astronomy and material science, however it is particularly of more interest in astronomy because graphite is a pre-solar grain material - meaning, it is found in the ejecta of dying stars which is the origin of solar system. Graphite is found in meteorites like Ureilites and Enstatite chondrites and among astronomical objects like terrestrial planets and asteroids the presence of graphite is evident from previous studies.

Method: On asteroids, materials are present in the form of dust layers called regolith and an efficient way to study their nature can be from scattered sunlight. However, due to the presence of many unknown parameters of regolith, light scattering is a difficult subject from both theoretical and computational standpoint. But experimentally we can simulate such surfaces within laboratory of known parameters to study light scattering from regolith analogous surfaces and compare them with the theoretical results to know more about true light scattering.

Results: In this work, two graphite samples – one with fine particles and the other with coarser particles were studied experimentally for their photometric behavior which show a distinctive nature from general theoretical understanding. The sample particles were studied for their composition by using XRD analysis and shapes by using SEM analysis. The results show that both of them are of same composition (i.e. comprises of highly pure graphite particles) and the particles are highly irregularly shaped.

Conclusion: These experimental results can be used for better understanding of light scattering from regolith of similar nature while they can also be helpful to test theoretical models of light scattering from irregular particles that involve multiple scattering.