Willy Benz, director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Bern (Switzerland), delivered this lecture in April 2015. Benz presents an overview of the relationship between comets and planets as remnants of the Solar System’s origin. He explains how comets, which reside in the most distant regions of the system, can offer crucial insights into the primordial composition of the universe and the processes of planetary formation. Benz analyzes the dynamic interactions between comets and planetary bodies—including gravitational perturbations and collisions—and highlights how technological advances in observation have enabled the detailed study of these objects, contributing to our understanding of the Solar System’s evolution.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contempor
Willy Benz, director of the Institute of Physics at the University of Bern (Switzerland), delivered this lecture in April 2015. Benz presents an overview of the relationship between comets and planets as remnants of the Solar System’s origin. He explains how comets, which reside in the most distant regions of the system, can offer crucial insights into the primordial composition of the universe and the processes of planetary formation. Benz analyzes the dynamic interactions between comets and planetary bodies—including gravitational perturbations and collisions—and highlights how technological advances in observation have enabled the detailed study of these objects, contributing to our understanding of the Solar System’s evolution.
This lecture is part of the astrophysics series ‘The Science of the Cosmos, the Science in the Cosmos’, tackles the fundamental questions in contemporary astrophysics.The fourth edition considers the enigmatic nature of dark matter and the most recent attempts to detect it with large underground instruments, the expansion of the universe, as well as recent research with particle accelerators.
