Physical Properties of Comets and Minor Planets
Commission 15 of the International Astronomical Union is dedicated to the Physical Study of Comets & Minor Planets.
Archival data on the physical properties of comets and minor planets are found in the PDS Asteroid/Dust Archive. This includes standard asteroid physical characteristics such as the properties of binary systems, occultation timings and diameters, masses, densities, rotation periods, surface temperatures, albedoes, spin vectors, taxonomy, and absolute magnitudes and slopes. In addition, European Asteroid Research Node (E.A.R.N.), an association of asteroid research groups, maintains a Data Base of Physical and Dynamical Properties of Near Earth Asteroids.
Most detailed information is available from Category: Asteroids visited by spacecraft and Category: Comets visited by spacecraft.
Read more about this topic: Minor Planet
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“Our own physical body possesses a wisdom which we who inhabit the body lack. We give it orders which make no sense.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“A drop of water has the properties of the sea, but cannot exhibit a storm. There is beauty of a concert, as well as of a flute; strength of a host, as well as of a hero.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When beggars die there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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—D.H. (David Herbert)