Distribution of cometary binding energies based on the assumption of steady state

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Abstract
Long-period comets are continually expelled from the Solar System by planetary perturbations, so that cometary population can be in a steady state if the loss of observable comets is compensated by the injection of new comets. An integral equation derived on the steady-state assumption is adopted and analytical solutions thereof are compared with observational data. It is shown that there is considerable excess of new comets in Oort's sense in accordance with an earlier result obtained by Everhart. It is further shown that cometary decay is inadequate to account for the discrepancy.

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