Dr. David Jewitt will do an observational study of the properties of the nuclei of comets at large distances from the Sun. The incorporation of very sensitive charge coupled devices (CCD) into the instrumentation now makes detailed investigations of these very faint Solar System objects practical. Most cometary phenomena originate in the nucleus of the comet, which is a 1 to 10 kilometer sized conglomerate of ices and dust grains. The desire to study the nucleus stems from the need to understand how its properties influence the coma and the tail of the comet and from the widely held view that the nucleus is a primordial body which carries information about physical and chemical conditions which prevailed when the Solar System formed. The most promising route to an improved understanding of the nuclei of comets as a group is through ground based observations. The principal scientific objective of Dr. Jewitt's investigation is to determine the statistical physical properties of a group of comet nuclei.
