Comets may have formed in the cold
reaches of the outer solar system.
They possibly include samples of the original material from which the Sun formed.
Asteroids are probably debris leftover
from the accretion of the planets.
Missions to comets and asteroids will
tell us more about the origins of the
solar system. The Planetary Society has
helped support successful searches at
Mount Palomar Observatory for asteroids
passing very near the Earth. Soon we will
send robot explorers to study the
near-earth asteroids.
