Voyager observations of dust scattering near the Coalsack nebula

We present the results of four observations of the sky in the direction of the Coalsack nebula. These observations were made using the ultraviolet spectrometers aboard the two Voyager spacecraft in the spectral range between 912 and 1600 A. Intense diffuse emission with a spectrum characteristic of an early B star was observed in all four targets, which we interpret as starlight forward scattered by interstellar dust in the foreground of the main mass of the Coalsack. While more detailed modeling is necessary to derive values for the optical constants of the dust grains, our data indicate that there is no decrease in the albedo toward shorter wavelengths, arguing that the far-ultraviolet rise in the interstellar extinction curve is due to an increasing number density of small particles rather than to a new population of low albedo grains.