Traces of the snowy cores of minicomets in the atmospheres and on the surfaces of planets

The snowy (icy) cores of minicomets irrupting into the atmospheres of plane ts usually totally disintegrate as they travel in the atmosphere as a conse quence of aerodynamic heating, leaving aces behind them. This paper suggest s that the residues of the snowy cores of minicomets that have not complete ly disintegrated in the atmosphere sometimes reach the earth and Mars, form ing traces of some shape or other on their surfaces. A number of cases are cited in which such traces have been observed on the earth's surface. (C) 2 001 The Optical Society of America.