comet family

comet family

A distinct group of comets, the members of which have aphelion distances that coincide approximately with points on the orbit of a giant planet, in particular Jupiter. Associations with Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are now considered to be dynamically implausible. See Jupiter's comet family.

comet family

[′käm·ət ‚fam·lē] (astronomy) Those short-period comets whose aphelia correspond closely to Jupiter's orbit.