Comets, TNOs and other popsicles

Objects that were formed at the Solar System edge are composed of large fractions of water ice. In some cases, the ice is sublimating and large amount of dust is getting released and forms a coma and a tail. We observed comet Tempel-1 during the Deep Impact crash, and some TNOs and other icy bodies:
· Deep Impact space mission
· Bursting Centaurs
Icy bodies have very interesting thermal evolution processes, due to their unique composition and dynamics. My advisor, Prof. Dina Prialnik, wrote a full 3D model of the thermal evolution of icy bodies, that are also apply on the rocky asteroids. See some papers here:
· From KBOs to Centaurs: the thermal connection. Sarid, G. and Prialnik, D., 2009. M&PS 44, pp. 1905-1916.
· A fully 3-dimensional thermal model of a comet nucleus. Rosenberg, E. D. and Prialnik D. 2007. New Astronomy 12, pp. 523-532.
· Modeling the structure and activity of comet nuclei. Prialnik D., Benkhoff, J., and Podolak, M., 2004. Comet II book.