— Solar and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems -- The Solar System: An Overview -- Setting the Scene: A Star Formation Perspective -- Extrasolar Planets: A Review of Current Observations and Theory -- The Giant Planets -- The Formation of Planets -- Dynamics of the Solar System -- Photometry of Resolved Planetary Surfaces -- Mercury — Goals for a Future Mission -- Physical Processes Associated with Planetary Satellites -- Light Scattering in the Martian Atmosphere: Effects on Surface Photometry -- The Small Bodies of the Solar System -- Dust in the Solar System and in Other Planetary Systems -- Meteors, Meteor Showers and Meteoroid Streams.

Both the high level of activity in worldwide space exploration programmes and the discovery of extra-solar planets have spurred renewed interest in the physics and evolution dynamics of solar systems. The present book has grown out of a set of lectures by leading experts in the field within the framework of the well-known EADN summer schools. It addresses primarily graduate students and young researchers but will be equally useful for scientists in search of a comprehensive tutorial account that goes beyond the material found in standard textbooks.