Comet Science With Ground Based and Space Based Surveys in the New Millennium

TL;DR

This paper reviews how ground-based and space-based surveys have advanced comet science by providing large samples and new discoveries, emphasizing the importance of continued survey efforts for understanding comet populations.

Contribution

It summarizes recent and current survey contributions to comet science, highlighting new discoveries and the need for ongoing large-scale surveys for population studies.

Findings

Surveys have increased comet discoveries and sample sizes.

Survey data has led to better understanding of comet populations.

Continued surveys are essential for comprehensive comet science.

Abstract

We summarize the comet science provided by surveys. This includes surveys where the detections of comets are an advantageous benefit but were not part of the survey\'s original intent, as well as some pointed surveys where comet science was the goal. Many of the surveys are made using astrophysical and heliophysics assets. The surveys in our scope include those using ground-based as well as space-based telescope facilities. Emphasis is placed on current or recent surveys, and science that has resulted since the publication of Comets II, though key advancements made by earlier surveys (e.g. IRAS, COBE, NEAT, etc.) will be mentioned. The proportionally greater number of discoveries of comets by surveys have yielded in turn larger samples of comet populations and sub-populations for study, resulting in better defined evolutionary trends. While providing an array of remarkable discoveries, most of the survey data has been only cursorily investigated. It is clear that continuing to fund ground- and space-based surveys of large numbers of comets is vital if we are to address science goals that can give us a population-wide picture of comet properties.