DYNAMICS OF COMETS IN THE OUTER PLANETARY REGION .1. A NUMERICAL EXPERIMENT

In order to study the dynamical evolution of comets in the region of the outer planets, 100 fictitious cometary orbits are generated with random orbital parameters, and their motions are integrated over 1000 revolutions each. The individual orbital evolutions are examined and compared to the results of previous studies concerning both fictitious and real comets. Attention is given to the effects of close planetary encounters, and in particular to those in which the initial orbit of the comet does not cross that of the planet that it encounters; the abundance and effectiveness of this type of encounters and its relevance to the dynamics of comets in general is discussed.