Broad-band and intermediate-band infrared photometry of Comets Bowell, Elias, and Gunn is presented. The data for Comet Bowell show that the strongly depressed albedo near 3 microns observed by Campins and colleagues (1982) is very broad and extends at least to 4 microns. Scattering calculations indicate that existing infrared data do not provide direct, observational evidence for the presence of H2O ice. However, the material responsible for the 3-micron absorption observed by Campins and colleagues remains therefore unidentified.
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A’Hearn et al. (1984) studied this question.