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On the origin of comets

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Abstract

The paper presents a brief history of cometary cosmogony. It discusses critically the eruptive hypothesis, the hypothesis on the relict origin of comets, and the hypothesis on a genetic connection between comets and trans-Plutonian planets. Laplace’s theoretical prediction as to the capture of long-period comets by Jupiter into short-period orbits is confirmed. We conclude that the interstellar hypothesis promising is for the provenance of comets.

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Original Russian Text © V.P. Tomanov, 2009, published in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2009, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 327–354.

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Tomanov, V.P. On the origin of comets. Kinemat. Phys. Celest. Bodies 25, 227–242 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591309050018

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