Current knowledge of cometary physics and chemistry is presented in comprehensive reviews contributed by leading experts. Theoretical models, observations, and results from comet probe missions and laboratory simulations are discussed. Chapters are devoted to the cometary nucleus, the neutral coma, cometary dust, cometary plasmas, the orbital distribution of comets, comet formation and evolution,
... [Show full abstract] and the implications of comet research. Extensive diagrams, drawings, graphs, photographs, and tables of numerical data are provided.