ON THE EXISTENCE OF SMALL COMETS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH PLANETS

Authors
BRANDT JC AHEARN MF RANDALL CE SCHLEICHER DG SHOEMAKER EM STEWART AIF
Citation
Jc. Brandt et al., ON THE EXISTENCE OF SMALL COMETS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH PLANETS, Earth, moon, and planets, 72(1-3), 1996, pp. 243-249
Citations number
20
Categorie Soggetti
Astronomy & Astrophysics","Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
Journal title
Earth, moon, and planets → ACNP
ISSN journal
01679295
Volume
72
Issue
1-3
Year of publication
1996
Pages
243 - 249
Database
ISI
SICI code
0167-9295(1996)72:1-3<243:OTEOSC>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
Arguments are presented for a substantial, unexplored population of co mets with radii less than 1 km. Known examples confirm this population and extrapolation of any plausible size-distribution function indicat es large numbers. However, their accurate numbers, orbital characteris tics, and physical properties are unknown. Thus, even though the small comets may be the most frequent cometary bodies impacting the planets , a quantitative evaluation is not currently possible. We advocate an optimized, dedicated search program to characterize this population.