Cometary dynamics

Since comets appear to be observable only at the expense of rapid aging in the vicinity of the Sun, chaotic routes are considered necessary in order to bring them from their remote places of origin and storage. Recent work on short-period cometary orbits has verified this expectation in general terms but has also shown many examples of temporary resonance trappings and other quasiregular phenomena. For long-period comet dynamics recent developments point to the importance of long-term effects associated with the Galactic tidal field acting in conjunction with the randomizing effect of stellar encounters. This paper presents a comprehensive review of all these aspects of cometary dynamics.