Comets: All about them
Comets are icy balls of frozen rock, gases and other complex organic compounds. They were first discovered by astronomer Gerard Kuiper in 1951. They are believed to be the leftovers of the formation of the Solar System. They were first theorized as icy bodies that exist beyond Neptune.
Types of Comets
1) Long-Period Comets — Long-Period Comets are comets that have an orbital period of more than 200 years. Long-Period comets are believed to originate from the outermost division of the Solar System — the Oort Cloud. An example is the Siding Spring Comet, which made a close flyby of Mars in 2014. It has an orbital period of around 740,000 years!
2) Short-Period Comets — Short-Period Comets are comets that have an orbital period of less than 200 years. Short-Period comets are believed to originate from the Kuiper Belt — A vast belt of icy comets and asteroids. An example is Halley’s Comet, which is the most famous comet. It has an orbital period of 75 years.
Parts of a Comet
1)The Nucleus — The nucleus of a comet is the frozen ball of gases, rock and organic compounds. The nucleus is usually a few kilometres in diameter.
2)The Coma — The coma is a cloud of dust particles that surrounds the nucleus of the comet.
3)The Dust Tail — The Dust tail is one of the 2 tails of the comet. It is made up of the material from the comet’s nucleus. The tail is always opposite to the comet’s direction to the Sun. The dust tail of a comet is always white in colour. This tail is the result of the material of the comet being eroded by the Sun’s radiation.
4)The Ion Tail — The Ion Tail is a tail of ionized particles originating from the coma of the comet. It is the result of ultraviolet radiation tearing and ripping electrons off atoms present in the comet’s coma.
Other examples of Comets
