New trends in cometary chemistry

Abstract

This paper presents some of the implications of new comet observations for cometary chemistry: recent observations of bright comets, space missions, and especially the first results of the Deep Impact experiment. Topics which are discussed are the molecular complexity of cometary material, the evidence for molecular diversity from the infrared observations by Deep Impact, possible relations between cometary nuclei and carbonaceous chondrites, the sites of ices in cometary nuclei, the problem of interpretation of the spin temperatures observed in cometary molecules.