ON THE ISSUE OF FAMILIES OF PERIODIC COMETS OF GIANT PLANETS (MOID - ANALYSIS)

Abstract

MOID-values relative to 4 giant planets were calculated for 670 periodic comets with aphelion distances up to 30 astronomical units (a.u.). It is established that 379 comets have values that do not exceed the radii of the planets’ spheres of influence. When categorized by families based on MOID-values, the number of comets associated with each giant planet is as follows: Jupiter (309), Saturn (69), Uranus (6), and Neptune (0). It is assumed that the influence of the selection effect on this distribution is very significant.