Comets are small icy Solar System bodies that outgass when orbiting the sun. They revolve around the sun in highly elliptical orbit for short periods or long periods. Short-period comets have orbits lasting less than two hundred years, when long-period comets have orbits lasting thousands of years. Comets are also called icy/snowy dirtballs, because they consist of what was left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago. A comet appears generally with a light head and a long tail
METEOROIDS, METEORS & METEORITES (TYPES OF COMETS)
-These are all actually the same thing. •Small asteroid pieces are meteoroids •When they fall towards earth, burning up, they are called meteors. We get some of these all the time. •IF they actually hit the surface, then they are meteorites.
A COMET'S BODY:
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▪Nucleus: The solid, icy 'heart' of the comet, inside the cloud of the coma.
▪Coma: The cloud of comet dust particles surrounding the nucleus. Also known as the 'head' of the comet.
Comets have two tails. The tails can only be seen when close to the sun.
▪Dust Tail: Made of comet dust particles and rocks (curved, bright)
▪Ion Tail: Made of electrically charged gases (straight, dim)
WHAT IS A COMET MADE OF?
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This is the nucleus of the comet^
(hope this is understandable because Ican't really explain.)
HALLEY'S COMET
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Halley's comet is arguably the most famous comet in the world. It is visible to the naked eye every 76 years (if you're lucky it might appear twice in your lifetime). It's periodicity was first determined in 1705 by the English astronomer Edmond Halley. Last appearance was in 1986, which was also the first time technology allowed for in depth study. It was found out that Halley's comet records back to 240 BC.
Next appearance of the comet will be in mid 2061 (if you are 18 now, you'll be 61)
