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Formation of Comets

Blum, Jürgen; Gundlach, Bastian; Bischoff, Dorothea

Questions regarding how primordial or pristine the comets of the solar system are have been an ongoing controversy. In this review, we describe comets' physical evolution from dust and ice grains in the solar nebula to the contemporary small bodies in the outer solar system. This includes the phases of dust agglomeration, the formation of planetes…

Mechanical Properties of Cometary Surfaces

Vincent, Jean-Baptiste; Biele, Jens; Knollenberg, Jörg

Mechanical properties, in particular, strength (tensile, shear, compressive) and porosity, are important parameters for understanding the evolution and activity of comets. However, they are notoriously difficult to measure. Unfortunately, neither Deep Impact nor other comet observations prior to Rosetta provided firm data on the strength of cometa…