Introduction to Comets

Professor Nicolas Thomas obtained his PhD in physics from the University of York, focusing on the studies of the Jovian satellite Io. He completed his post-doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. In 1992, he was appointed Deputy Project Scientist for the Giotto Extended Mission to comet Grigg-Skjellerup. From 1994 onwards, he has been a co-investigator in the OSIRIS experiment (the imaging system) for Rosetta. Since March 2003, he has been Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Bern, which is also the PI establishment for the ROSINA experiment (the mass spectrometer) on Rosetta.

• 1. Light Curves, Orbits, and Reservoirs.- 2. The Nucleus.- 3. Gas Emissions Near the Nucleus.- 4. Dust Emission from the Surface.- 5. The Plasma Environment.- 6. Comet-Like Activity in Related Objects.- 7. The Loss of Comets.- 8. Future Investigations of Comets.- 9. Final Remarks.

“This new book is a very welcome and timely addition to the collection. … The book goes into a lot of detail, some of it at PhD level, but since it is written by a single author, it all fits together logically and so it can be read and understood by more-general readers. … book has something which I wish other authors would adopt. … This is an excellent, comprehensive, and up-to-date description of comets, and I thoroughly recommend it.” (Nick James, The Observatory, Vol. 141 (1284), October, 2021)