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Comets

Nature, Dynamics, Origin, and their Cosmogonical Relevance

  • Book
  • © 2005

Overview

Authors:
  1. Julio Angel Fernández

    1. Astronomy Department, Faculty of Sciences, Montevideo, Uruguay

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Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Library (ASSL, volume 328)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Early Ideas about Comets

    Pages 1-17

  3. Statistics of Cometary Orbits and Magnitudes

    Pages 19-38

  4. The Understanding of Their Physical Nature

    Pages 39-75

  5. Dynamics of LP Comets Entering the Inner Planetary Region

    Pages 77-102

  6. The Oort Cloud

    Pages 103-132

  7. The Flux of New Comets: Quiescent and Excited Stages

    Pages 133-154

  8. The Jupiter Family

    Pages 155-192

  9. The Trans-Neptunian Belt

    Pages 193-235

  10. Physical End States of Comets

    Pages 237-271

  11. Leftovers of the Solar System Formation

    Pages 273-313

  12. Comets and Life

    Pages 315-339

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 341-383
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Keywords

About this book

Comets are small bodies, but of great cosmic relevance. Given its pristine nature, they may preserve valuable and unique information on thechemical and physical processes that took place in theearly solar system, and that may be occurring in the formation of other planetary systems. They might have even played a very important role in the origin of life on Earth. Beyond that, since ancient times comets have inspired awe, superstition, and also curiosity anddebate. Their sudden apparitions challenged the long-held view of the immutability of the heavens, which triggered a long debate on whether comets had a heavenly or terrestrial nature. Therefore, comets have a prominent role in the history of scienti?cthought, that goes back to the most ancient civilizations. The last apparition of comet Halley in 1986 was a landmark since it arouse a great expectation in the scienti?c community and in the public at large. For the ?rst time, a ?otilla of spacecrafts visited a comet. Agreat number of popular and technical books were written on Halley, and comets in general, around the mid-eighties. The interest in comets never subsided after Halley’s passage which is re?ected in the large volume of printed material on these bodies. I have taken the challenge to write a new book on comets that summarizes most of the recent advances on thesubject, including my own workdeveloped during the last 25 years.

Reviews

Fernández's monograph is a lucid account of cometary dynamics and related topics that is an important contribution to the literature... Comets provides an important and extremely readable summary of cometary dynamics and related topics... Many scientists, including astronomers, can benefit from reading it.

—John C. Brandt, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, in Physics Today, Sept. 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Astronomy Department, Faculty of Sciences, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Julio Angel Fernández

About the author

Full Professor of Astronomy at the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Formerly, I held temporal positions at the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, Germany, and Observatorio do Valongo, Universidad Federal de Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Vice-president of Commission 20 of the International Astronomical Union ``Positions and Motions of Minor Planets, Comets and Satellites''.
Member of the Small Bodies Names Committee of the International Astronomical Union.
Asteroid 5996 was named ``Julioangel'' by the International Astronomical Union (Resolution July/1996).
Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Planetary and Space Science during the period 1993-1998.
Member of the Third World Academy of Sciences

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