Interrelations between comets and asteroids

Abstract

AbstractVarious aspects of comet/asteroid distinctions and interrelations are reviewed with emphasis on recent work and paying special attention to the following problems: characteristics of cometary activity at large heliocentric distance and uniqueness of comet P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 with respect to physical properties, the rôle of Trojans and other small bodies in the outer planetary system concerning comet/asteroid classification, possibilities for physical evolution of comets into asteroids, orbital and dynamical overlap of the comet and asteroid populations, and the cometary versus asteroidal origin of Earth-approaching asteroids. With regard to these latter questions it is argued that recent discoveries indicate a more substantial probability for Jupiter family comets to develop into asteroidal objects than earlier believed, and several examples of cometary association for newly discovered Apollo-Amor asteroids are also referred to. However, the fractional cometary contribution to the traditional Apollo-Amor asteroid population (aphelia far inside Jupiter’s orbit) apparently can not yet be reliably estimated.