Cometary nuclei are the most primitive bodies existing in our Solar system. However, only 3 cometary nuclei have been visited by spacecraft, and only a few dozen more have been imaged from Earth-based telescopes. The current generation of 4-m and 8-m telescopes allows us to derive the gross properties of cometary nuclei such as size, spin-rate and colour. By performing these studies we will obtain clues as to the evolution of cometary nuclei as they evolved inwards from the Kuiper Belt.

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) pose an immediate threat to the Earth through the possibility of impact. We operate UKAPP in order to improve our knowledge of this threat, primarily through astrometry of NEOs with uncertain orbits and with non-zero impact probabilities in the next 100 years. However, the scientifically interesting questions concern understanding their origins and evolution Hence we also determine the composition of these bodies through multi-colour photometry and spectroscopy, to assist theoretical models in disentangling the possibles sources of NEOs. In 2008 we started a programme of adaptive optics studies of very close NEOs.

The programme is observationally led, with significant allocations of observing time in the past year on telescopes ranging from the 8.0-m Gemini Telescopes to the 3.5-m ESO NTT. We are also members of the Pan-STARRS1 Science Consortium . The PS1 facility will give us an abundance of new and curious objects to study starting in 2009!