Smooth curves on a cone which pass through its vertex.
We consider the k-osculating varietiesOk,d to the Veronese d?uple embeddings of P2. By studying the Hilbert function of certain zero-dimensional schemes Y ⊂ P2, we find the dimension of Osk,d, the (s?1)th secant varieties of Ok,d, for 3 ≤ s ≤ 6 and s = 9, and we determine whether those secant varieties are defective or not.