Abstract
The definition, population, extent, origin and evolution of the individual subsystems of comets and transitions between them are discussed, together with presentation of the relevant statistical data and their changes with time. The largest outer subsystems are unobservable, but their existence is documented by the necessity of progressive replenishment of the observable populations, with limited survival times. There is persuasive evidence for two different evolutionary paths, one from the Oort cloud and another from the Kuiper belt. While the extent and accuracy of the data available is increasing rapidly, the Jupiter family of comets is the only one for which the evolutionary time scales do not exceed by many orders of magnitude the history of astronomical observations. The individual comet populations differ from one another not only by the distribution of orbits, but also by the size distribution and aging rate of their members. Their dynamical evolution is coupled with disintegration processes, which make it questionable whether the present state can be interpreted as a long-term average.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bailey, M.E. : 1986, “The mean energy transfer to comets in the Oort cloud and implications for cometary origins.” Mon. Not. R. Asiron. Soc. ,218, 1–30.
Bailey, M.E. : 1990, “Short-period comets : probes of the inner core.” In Asteroids, Comets, Meteors III(C.-I. Lagerkvist, H. Rickman, B.A. Lindblad and M. Lindgren, Eds.), 221–230, Univ. of Uppsala Press.
Bailey, M.E. : 1992, “Origin of short-period comets.” Celest. Mech. ,54, 49–61.
Baldet, F., de Obaldia, G. : 1952, Catalogue General des Orbites de Comètes ,CNRS, Paris.
Biermann, L., Huebner, W.F., Lüst, R. : 1983, “Aphelion clustering of new comets : Star tracks through Oort’s cloud!” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA ,80, 5151–5155.
Carusi, A., Valsecchi, G.B. : 1985, “Statistical and numerical studies of the orbital evolution of short-period comets.” In Dynamics of Comets : their Origin and Evolution (A. Carusi and G.B. Valsecchi, Eds.), 261-278, I). Reidel, Dordrecht.
Carusi, A., Kresák, L., Perozzi, E., Valsecchi, G.B. : 1985a, Long-term Evolution of Short-period Comets ,A. Hilger, Bristol (together with data for a new edition).
Carusi, A., Kresák, Ľ., Perozzi, E., Valsecchi, G.B. : 1985b, “First results of the integration of motion of short-period comets over 800 years.” In Dynamics of Comets : their Origin and Evolution (A. Carusi and G.B. Valsecchi, Eds.), 319–340, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Carusi, A., Kresák, Ľ., Perozzi, E., Valsecchi, G.B. : 1987, “High-order librations of Halley-type comets.” Astron. Astrophys. ,187, 899–905.
Clube, S.V.M. : 1992, “The fundamental role of giant comets in the Earth history.” Celest. Mech. ,54, 179–193.
Delsemme, A.H. : 1987, “Galactic tides affect the Oort cloud : an observational confirmation.” Astron. Astrophys. ,187, 913–918.
Duncan, M., Quinn, T., Tremaine, S. : 1988, “The origin of short-period comets.” Astrophys. J. ,328, L69–L73.
Everhart, E., Raghavan, N. : 1970, “Changes in total energy for 392 long-period comets, 1800-1970.” Astron. J. ,75, 258–272.
Fernández, J.A. : 1985, “Dynamical capture and physical decay of short-period comets.” Icarus ,64, 308–319.
Fernández, J.A., Rickman, H., Kamél, L. : 1992, “The population size and distribution of perihelion distances of the Jupiter family.” In Periodic Comets (J.A. Fernández and H. Rickman, Eds.), 143–157, Univ. Montevideo Press.
Galle, J. : 1894, Verzeichniss der Elemente der bisher berechneten Comet enbahnen ,W. Engelmann, Leipzig.
Halley, E. : 1705, “Tabulae astronomicae.” Phil. Transactions R. Astron. Soc. ,24, 1882.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1977, “An alternate interpretation of the Oort cloud of comets?” In Comets, Asteroids, Meteorites (A.H. Delsemme, Ed.), 93–97, Univ. Toledo Press, Ohio.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1982, “Dynamical evolution and disintegration of comets.” In Sun and Planetary System (W. Fricke and G. Teleki, Eds.), 361–370, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1985, “The aging and lifetimes of comets.” In Dynamics of Comets : their Origin and Evolution (A. Carusi and G.B. Valsecchi, Eds.), 279–302, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1987, “Dormant phases in the aging of periodic comets.” Astron. Astrophys. ,187, 906–908.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1991, “Evidence for physical aging of periodic coemts.” In Comets in the Post-Halley Era (R.L. Newburn, Jr., M. Neugebauer and J. Rahe, Eds.), 607–628, Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1992, “Are there any comets coming from interstellar space?” Astron. Astrophys. ,259, 682–691.
Kresák, Ľ. : 1993, “Cometary dust trails and meteor storms.” Astron. Astrophys. ,in press.
Kresák, Ľ., Kresáková, M. : 1990, “Secular variations of absolute magnitudes of periodic comets.” Icarus ,86, 82–92.
Kresák, Ľ., Štohl, J. : 1990, “ Genetic relationships between comets, asteroids and meteors.” In Asteroids, Comets, Meteors III(C.-I. Lagerkvist, H. Rickman, B.A. Lindblad and M. Lindgren, Eds.), 379–388, Univ. Uppsala Press.
Kuiper, G.P. : 1951, “Origin of the Solar system.” In Astrophysics (J.A. Hynek, Ed.), 357–424, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Marsden, B.G. : 1972, Catalogue of Cometary Orbits (1st edition), Minor Planet Center, SAO, Cambridge, MA.
Marsden, B.G. : 1982, Catalogue of Cometary Orbits (4th edition), Minor Planet Center, SAO, Cambridge, MA.
Marsden, B.G. : 1992, Catalogue of Cometary Orbits (7th edition), Minor Planet Center, SAO, Cambridge, MA.
Matese, J.J., Whitman, P.G. : 1992, “A model of the galactic and tidal intercation with the Oort comet cloud.” Celest. Mech. ,54, 13–35.
Meech, K.J. : 1991, “Physical aging of comets.” In Comets in the Post-Halley Era (R.L. Newburn, Jr., M. Neugebauer and J. Rahe, Eds.), 629–669, Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht.
Meech, K.J., Belton, M.J.S. : 1989, “(2060) Chiron.” IAU Circ. No. 4770.
Milani, A., Carpino, M., Hahn, G., Nobili, A.M. : 1989, “Project Spaceguard : Dynamics of planet-crossing asteroids.” Icarus ,78, 212–269.
Oort, J.H. : 1950, “The structure of the cloud of comets surrounding the Solar System, and a hypothesis concerning its origin.” Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. ,11, 91–110.
Oort, J.H. : 1990, “Orbital distribution of comets.” In Physics and Chemistry of Comets (W.F. Huebner, Ed.), 235–244, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Pingré, P. : 1784, Cométographie ou Traité historique et théorique des Comètes ,Impr. Royale, Paris.
Quinn, T., Tremaine, S., Duncan, M. : 1990, “Planetary perturbations and the origin of short-period comets.” Astrophys. J. ,355, 667–679.
Rabinowitz, D.L. : 1993, “The size distribution of Earth-approaching asteroids.” Astrophys. J. ,in press.
Rickman, H. : 1992, “Structure and evolution of the Jupiter family.” Celest. Mech. ,54, 63–69.
Rickman, H., Huebner, W.F. : 1990, “Comet formation and evolution.” In Physics and Chemistry of Comets (W.F. Huebner, Ed.), 245–303, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Rickman, H., Froeschlé, C., Kamél, L., Festou, M.C. : 1991, “Nongravitational effects and the aging of periodic comets.” Astron. J. ,102, 1446–1463.
Steel, D., Asher, D. J., Clube, S. V. M. : 1992, “Giant comet origin for the Taurid complex.” In Periodic Comets (J.A. Fernández and H. Rickman, Eds.), 189–200, Univ. Montevideo Press.
Sykes, M.V., Walker, R.G. : 1992, “Cometary Dust Trails. I. Survey.” Icarus ,95, 180–210.
Valsecchi, G.B. : 1992, “Close encounters, planetary masses and the evolution of cometary orbits.” In Periodic Comets (J.A. Fernandez and H. Rickman, Eds.), 81–96, Univ. Montevideo Press.
Weissman, P.R. : 1980, “Physical loss of long-period comets.” Astron. Astrophys. ,85, 191–196.
Weissman, P.R. : 1985, “Dynamical evolution of the Oort cloud.” In Dynamics of Comets : their Origin and Evolution (A. Carusi and G.B. Valsecchi, Eds.), 87–96, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Whipple, F.L. : 1978, “Cometary brightness variation and nucleus structure.” Moon and Planets ,18, 343–359.
Whipple, F.L. : 1992a, “A new activity index of comets.” In Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1991 (A.W. Harris and E. Bowell, Eds.), 633–640, Lunar Planet. Inst., Houston.
Whipple, F.L. : 1992b, “The activities of comets related to their aging and origin.” Celest. Mech. ,54, 1–11.
Yabushita, S. : 1991, “Maximum nongravitational acceleration due to outgassing cometary nuclei.” Earth, Moon and Planets ,52, 87–92.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kresák, Ľ. (1994). Comets (Existing Populations). In: Milani, A., Di Martino, M., Cellino, A. (eds) Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1993. International Astronomical Union / Union Astronomique Internationale, vol 160. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1148-5_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1148-5_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-2881-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-1148-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive