Cometary nucleus as an aggregate of planetesimals

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Icarus; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0019-1035(88)90163-7· OSTI ID:6594183

Yamamoto, T; Kozasa, T

The present treatment of the properties of extant, primordial solar nebula-generated planetesimals and their aggregates, with a view to cometary origins, takes Greenberg et al.'s (1984) suggested formation of a small-mass planetesimal by the nonhomologous sedimentation of grains into account. It is noted that the mass of a planetesimal formed by gravitational instability of the dust layer is related to the total number of comets, and it is shown that the planetesimal's initial mass is 4 to 7 orders-of-magnitude smaller than that estimated by assuming complete grain sedimentation. The presence of a cometary cloud beyond the planetary region but closer than the Oort cloud is hypothesized. 47 references.

• Research Organization: Tokyo Univ., Sagamihara (Japan); Tokyo Univ. (Japan)
• OSTI ID: 6594183
• Journal Information: Icarus; (United States), Vol. 75
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COMETS
ORIGIN
H1 REGIONS
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
MORPHOLOGY
PROTOPLANETS
SOLAR SYSTEM
SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLUTION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
DISTRIBUTION
SPECTROSCOPY
640107* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Planetary Phenomena