by K S Krishna Swamy (retired from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India)

Table of Contents (254k)
Foreword (144k)
Chapter 1: General Introduction (2,078k)

This revised edition places a unique emphasis on all the new results from ground-based, satellites and space missions — detection of molecule H2 and prompt emission lines of OH for the first time; discovery of X-rays in comets; observed diversity in chemical composition among comets; the puzzle of the constancy of spin temperature; the well-established mineralogy of cometary dust; extensive theoretical modeling carried out for understanding the observed effects; the similarity in the mineralogy of dust in circumstellar shell of stars, comets, meteorites, asteroids and IDPs, thus indicating the generic relationship between them.

• General Introduction
• Dynamics
• Physical Aspects
• Spectra
• Spectra of Coma
• Gas-Production Rates in Coma
• Dust Tails
• Light Scattering Theory
• The Nature of Dust Particles
• Ion Tails
• Nucleus
• Origin
• Relation to Other Solar System Studies
• Problems and Prospects