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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.
List of contents
David Jewitt: Kuiper Belt and Comets: An Observational Perspective.- Alessandro Morbidelli: Comets and Their Reservoirs: Current Dynamics and Primordial Evolution.- Heike Rauer: Comets.
About the author
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.
Summary
The study of the Solar system, particularly of its newly discovered outer parts, is one of the hottest topics in modern astrophysics with great potential for revealing fundamental clues about the origin of planets and even the emergence of life.
The three lecturers of the 35th Saas-Fee Advanced Course cover the field from observational, theoretical and numerical perspectives. Highly sensitive, wide-field electronic detectors have enabled the discovery and the exploration of the Kuiper Belt, while fast computers allow for numerical simulations to be made with a degree of sophistication previously unimaginable. Additionally, the perception of the Solar system in the bigger context of the galactic disk is changing, particularly as planets encircling other stars are detected. This volume, reviewing what is known about the Solar system, is therefore extremely timely, and the style it is written in conveys the excitement this field of research holds.
