The volume gathers the prominent works by participants in the NATO Advanced Study Institute, liThe Comparative Study of the Planets", which was held at Vulcano (Aeolian Islands) from September 14 to September 25, 1981. The book is intended to be a landmark for all those inter­ ested in the problems disclosed through the close-up exploration of planets and satellites, either for professional reasons or Simply for scientific knowledge. The topics dealt with concern all methodologies by which the members of the Solar System have been studied and the audience to whom the volume is addressed is, in addition to the experts, mailllly graduate and post-graduate students attending courses in Earth Sciences, Physics and Astro­ nomy. The aim we intend to achieve in editing this volume is to offer to planetologists an overview of the present state of knowledge, using the comparative study of the planets as a basis on which to build the themes treated. We think it is one of the fe, ... publications of this type, which includes all the subjects concerning the study of a planet. We hope we have succeeded in conveying through the book the message which was clearly expressed by the lecturers of the ASI in Vulcano: what counts most at this stage of planetary research is to be able to single out the fun­ damental problems and choose the appropriate set of data to use in approaching these problems.

Inhalt

I: Origin, Evolution and Dynamics of the Bodies in the Solar System.- Some Remarks on the Formation of Terrestrial Planets.- Origin and Evolution of the Giant Planets.- Origin of Regular Satellites.- Ganymede and Callisto: Accumulation Heat Content.- The Shape of Small Solar System Bodies: Gravitational Equilibrium vs. Solid-State Interactions.- Meteorites and Cosmochemistry.- Ages of the Solar System: Isotopic Dating.- Do the Age Differences Given by Relative or Absolute Chronologies of the Most Ancient Meteorites Correspond to Real Age Differences?.- Solar System Cratering Chronology and Dating of the Surface Structures of the Terrestrial-Type Planets.- The Stability of the Solar System.- Dynamics of the Asteroids.- On the Orbital Evolution of Short-Period Comets Having Low-Velocity Encounters with Jupiter.- II: Physics of the Solar System.- The Internal Structure of the Sun, Its Pulsations and the Neutrino Problem.- Heat Transfer and the Development of Internal Structure in the Terrestrial Planets.- Secular Trends in Polar Motions: A New Tool for Probing the Viscosity of the Lower Mantle.- High Precision Tracking of Synchronous Satellites for Geophysical Purposes.- Atmospheric Evolution.- Circulation Systems in Planetary Atmospheres.- The Case for a Bimodal Size Distribution in Titan's Upper Haze Layer.- Elements of Comparative Magnetoplanetology.- Lunar Palaeomagnetism.- The Present Picture of Io's Electrodynamic Coupling with the Magenetosphere of Jupiter.- Structure of Small Meteoroids Deduced from Two Station Low Light Level TV Observations of Meteor Trails.- Near Infrared Spectroscopy of Comet Bradfield 1980t.- Impact Cratering Mechanics.- Experimental Study of Effects Associated with Macroscopic Hypervelocity Impacts.- The "Trumpet Charge", a Technique for Producing Macroscopic Hypervelocity Projectiles.- A Possible Mechanism for Impact Magnetisation of Cratered Surfaces.- The Effects of Microparticle Hypervelocity Impacts on Polished Surfaces: Tests for the Choice of the Halley Multicolour Camera.- III: Geology of Planetary Bodies.- Geologic Overview of the Terrestrial Planets.- Faulting and Fracturing of Planetary Surfaces.- Aeolian Modification of Planetary Surfaces.- Some Thermodynamic Relationships Governing the Behavior of Permafrost and Frozen Ground.- Lava Flows on Etna, a Morphometric Study.- A Petrological Model on Magma Evolution of Vulcano Eruptive Complex (Aeolian Islands - Italy).- Morphology and Network Patterns of Martian Valleys.- Stratigraphic Relationships among the Upper Layers of the Outer Galilean Satellites, Inferred from the Investigation of Their Ray Systems.- List of Speakers and Participants.- Index of Authors.- Index of Subjects and Names.