cometesimaln.
/ˌkɒmᵻˈtɛsᵻml/, U.S. /ˌkɑməˈtɛsəm(ə)l/ Astronomy.
A small icy body in a planetary or protosolar system which is capable of growing by accretion into a comet; a small comet.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > constellation > comet or meteor > comet > [noun]
faxed stareOE
cometOE
blazing starc1503
besom1566
crinital star1580
blazera1635
Dog Star1727
sword-star1852
sungrazer1887
cometesimal1964
1964 F. L. Whipple in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 51 711 Those ‘cometesimals’ forming beyond this region did not collect into planets because of the low surface density of the preplanetary cloud; they remain in a ring extending indefinitely beyond the ‘perturbative reach’ of Neptune.
1985 W. F. Huebner in J. S. Levine Photochem. of Atmospheres ix. 453 After the planets formed, the remaining cometesimals would be thrown into the Oort cloud through gravitational perturbations by the planets.
1988 P. Cloud Oasis in Space i. 27/1 It [sc. Jupiter] may also have deflected other planetesimals and cometesimals into collisional orbits with the growing inner planets.
2015 U. Meierhenrich Comets & Origin ii. 104 These collisions would lead to the formation of intermediate cometesimals and, ultimately, to comets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1964