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The Evolution of Long-Period Comets
- Publication Year :
- 1997
- Publisher :
- arXiv, 1997.
-
Abstract
- We study the evolution of long-period comets by numerical integration of their orbits, following comets from their origin in the Oort cloud until their final escape or destruction, in a model solar system consisting of the Sun, the four giant planets and the Galactic tide. We also examine the effects of non-gravitational forces and the gravitational forces from a hypothetical solar companion or circumsolar disk. We confirm the conclusion of Oort and other investigators that the observed distribution of long-period comet orbits does not match the expected steady-state distribution unless there is fading or some similar process that depletes the population of older comets. We investigate several simple fading laws. We can match the observed orbit distribution if the fraction of comets remaining observable after m apparitions is proportional to m to the power -0.6 +/- 0.1 (close to the fading law originally proposed by Whipple 1962); or if approximately 95% of comets live for only a few (~6) returns and the remainder last indefinitely. Our results also yield statistics such as the expected perihelion distribution, distribution of aphelion directions, frequency of encounters with the giant planets and the rate of production of Halley-type comets.<br />Comment: 53 pages, 27 figures, 8 tables; submitted to Icarus May 1997
- Subjects :
- Physics
Solar System
education.field_of_study
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Comet
Population
Astrophysics (astro-ph)
Astronomy
FOS: Physical sciences
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
01 natural sciences
Galactic tide
Orbit
Space and Planetary Science
Planet
Interstellar comet
0103 physical sciences
Physics::Space Physics
Trans-Neptunian object
Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
education
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....12495bfa15b7d3bde4cd371dd93d9599
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9705153