Comet nuclei are the most primitive bodies in the solar system. They have been created far away from the early Sun and it is supposed that their material has been altered the least since their formation.

This volume presents the results of a scientific workshop on comet nuclei and is written by experts working on interstellar clouds, star-forming regions, the solar nebula, and comets. The articles formulate the current understanding and interconnectivity of the various source regions of comet nuclei and their associated compositions and orbital characteristics. This includes a discussion on the transport of materials into the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud regions of the solar system. The distinction between direct measurements of cometary material properties and properties derived from indirect means are emphasized with the aim to guide future investigations.

This book serves as a guide for researchers and graduate students working in the field of planetology and solar system exploration. It should also help to influence the planning of scientific strategies for the encounter of the Rosetta spacecraft with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Contenu
Foreword.- Origins of Cometary Materials.- Origin of Comet Nuclei and Dynamics.- Reservoir for Comet Material: Circumstellar Grains.- Interstellar Reservoirs of Cometary Matter.- Cometary Refractory Grains: Interstellar and Nebular Sources.- Dynamical Origin of Comets and Their Reservoirs.- Reservoirs for Comets: Compositional Differences Based on Infrared Observations.- Thermal and Chemical Evolution of Comet Nuclei and Kuiper Belt Objects.- Loss of the Surface Layers of Comet Nuclei.- Distributed Sources in Comets.- How Well Do Experimental Results on Large Samples of Gas-Laden Amorphous Ice Duplicate Deep Impact's Findings?.- Comet Knudsen Layers.- MorphologyCompositionIsotopes: Recent Results from Observations.- Deep Impact and the Origin and Evolution of Cometary Nuclei.- Assessing the elemental composition of comet 81P/Wild 2 by analyzing dust collected by Stardust.- Composition Measurements of a Comet from the Rosetta Orbiter Spacecraft.- Capabilities of Philae, the Rosetta Lander.- Rapporteur Paper on the Composition of Comets.- The Contributions of Comets to Planets, Atmospheres, and Life: Insights from Cassini-Huygens, Galileo, Giotto, and Inner Planet Missions.