Trans-Neptunian Objects and Comets

In the last two decades of the 20th century, we obtained our first detailed look at a cometary nucleus and detected objects in the Kuiper-Edgeworth Belt for the first time. These two observations have resulted in a major leap forward in our understanding of small bodies in our Solar System. Combined with powerful new approaches to the study of Solar System dynamics, progress within the last 20 years has been staggering. This book attempts to synthesize these new findings in a manner which is readable for new graduate students in the field.

• Comets
• Kuiper Belt Objects
• Origin of Life
• Planet
• Planet Formation
• Planetary System
• Solar System
• Transneptunian Objects
• astronomy
• astrophysics
• evolution
• solar
• the origin

• Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA

  David Jewitt

• Observatoire de la Côte dŠAzur/CNRS, France

  Alessandro Morbidelli

• DLR/Institut für Planetenforschung, 12489 Berlin, Germany

  Heike Rauer

• TU Berlin/Zentrum für Astronomie und Astrophysik, 10623 Berlin, Germany

  Heike Rauer

David Jewitt is professor at the University of Hawaii and joint discoverer (with Jane Luu) of the first trans-Neptunian object, 1992 QB1.

Alessandro Morbidelli is researcher at Nice Observatory and winner of the Urey Prize of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in 2000.

Heike Rauer is professor at the Free University of Berlin and staff scientist at the DLR institute for Planetary Research. She is joint discoverer of the sodium tail of comet Hale-Bopp.

Policies and ethics