Composition and Origin of Cometary Materials

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Gases and Grains in the Coma

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Composition of the Volatile Material in Halley’s Coma from in Situ Measurements

      • K. Altwegg, H. Balsiger, J. Geiss

      Pages 3-18

   3. Remote Observations of the Composition of Cometary Volatiles

      • J. Crovisier, D. Bockelée-Morvan

      Pages 19-32

   4. Cometary Deuterium

      • Roland Meier, Tobias C. Owen

      Pages 33-43

   5. Comet Halley’s Gas Composition and Extended Sources: Results from the Neutral Mass Spectrometer on Giotto

      • Peter Eberhardt

      Pages 45-52

   6. On the Existence of Distributed Sources in Comet Comae

      • M. C. Festou

      Pages 53-67

   7. The Distributed CO in Comet Halley

      • Aigen Li, J. Mayo Greenberg

      Pages 69-74

   8. H2O-Activity of Comet Hale-Bopp

      • E. Kührt

      Pages 75-82

   9. Hale-Bopp and Its Sodium Tails

      • G. Cremonese

      Pages 83-89

   10. Rocky Cometary Particulates: Their Elemental, Isotopic and Mineralogical Ingredients

       • Elmar K. Jessberger

       Pages 91-97

   11. The Silicate Material in Comets

       • Martha S. Hanner

       Pages 99-108

   12. On the Organic Refractory Component of Cometary Dust

       • Marina N. Fomenkova

       Pages 109-114

3. From Coma Abundances to Nucleus Composition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 115-115

      PDF

   2. From Coma Abundances to Nucleus Composition

      • W. F. Huebner, J. Benkhoff

      Pages 117-130

   3. On The Prediction of CO Outgassing from Comets Hale-Bopp and Wirtanen

      • Achim Enzian

      Pages 131-139

   4. On the Flux of Water and Minor Volatiles from the Surface of Comet Nuclei

      • J. Benkhoff

      Pages 141-148

   5. Morphological Structure and Chemical Composition of Cometary Nuclei and Dust

      • J. Mayo Greenberg, Aigen Li

      Pages 149-161

   6. Polarization of Light Scattered by Cometary Dust Particles: Observations and Tentative Interpretations

      • A.-Chantal Levasseur-Regourd

      Pages 163-168

   7. Changes in the Structure of Comet Nuclei Due to Radioactive Heating

      • D. Prialnik, M. Podolak

      Pages 169-178

Comet nuclei are the most primitive bodies in the solar system. They have been created far away from the early Sun and their material properties have been altered the least since their formation. Thus, the composition and structure of comet nuclei provide the best information about the chemical and thermodynamic conditions in the nebula from which our solar system formed.
In this volume, cometary experts review a broad spectrum of ideas and conclusions based on in situ measurement of Comet Halley and remote sensing observations of the recent bright Comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. The chemical character of comet nuclei suggests many close similarities with the composition of interstellar clouds. It also suggests material mixing from the inner solar nebula and challenges the importance of the accretion shock in the outer nebula. The book is intended to serve as a guide for researchers and graduate students working in the field of planetology and solar system exploration. Several special indexes focus the reader's attention to detailed results and discussions. It concludes with recommendations for laboratory investigations and for advanced modeling of comets, the solar nebula, and the collapse of interstellar clouds.

• Accretion
• planet
• planetary science
• solar system
• sun

• Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bern, Bern, Switzerland

  K. Altwegg

• Leiden Observatory, Leiden, The Netherlands

  P. Ehrenfreund

• International Space Science Institute, Bern, Switzerland

  J. Geiss

• Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA

  W. F. Huebner

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