An overview of comet composition

Abstract

Comets are made of ices, organics and minerals that record the chemistry of the outer regions of the primitive solar nebula where they agglomerated 4.6 Gyr ago. Compositional analyses of comets can provide important clues on the chemical and physical processes that occurred in the early phases of Solar System formation, and possibly in the natal molecular cloud that predated the formation of the solar nebula. This paper presents a short review of our present knowledge of the composition of comets. Implications for the origin of cometary materials are discussed. © 2011 International Astronomical Union.