Abstract: This paper follows the broadly accepted theory that Oort-Cloud Comets originated in the Solar Nebula in the general region where the major planets, Jupiter and Saturn, were formed while the Kuiper-Belt Comets originated farther out where the temperatures were lower. The Oort-Cloud Comets are identified orbitally by long periods and random inclinations and, including the Halley-type comets, comets with a Tisserand Criterion less than 2.0. Kuiper-Belt comets are identified by short periods, usually much less than 200 years, and small inclinations to the ecliptic. Here two criteria for comet activity are found to separate the two classes of comets. These quantities NG1 and NG2, were intended to measure theoretical nongravitaional effects on comet orbits. They are only, mildly successful in correlations with observed cases of measured non-gravitational forces. But, in fact, their variations with perihelion distance separate the two classes of comets. The results are consistent with the theory that the activity or intrinsic brightness of Oort-Cloud Comets fall off faster with increasing perihelion distance that does the intrinsic brightness of short-period Kuiper-Belt Comets.
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-08-01
Language: en
Type: article
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