Dust properties from scattering

Dust grains evolve during the life cycle of the interstellar matter. From their birth places to dense molecular clouds, they grow by coagulation and acquire ice mantles, mainly composed of water. These morphological changes affect their optical properties. However, it remains a highly degenerate issue to determine their composition, size distribution, and shape from observations. In particular, using wavelengths associated to dust emission alone is not sufficient to investigate dense cold cores. Fortunately, scattering has turned out to be a powerful tool to investigate molecular clouds from the outer regions to the core. In particular, it is possible to quantify the amount of dust aggregates needed to reproduce observations from 1.25 to 8 μm.