Comets: What Are They? (An in Depth Analysis)
Icy Comet NEAT
Yesterday we talked about Asteroids and what they are so today let's talk about something ''similar'' that many confuse them with the Asteroids and it is no other than Comets!
Comets & Origin
Comets are leftovers from the beginning of our solar system that mostly consist of ice, rocks and dust ( note that asteroids don't have ice at all). In case you wanna know how they were formed i just got you covered and it's quite amazing! When our sun began to take form a dusty cloud with ice came around him and in the parts that couldn't heat reach, some ice particles created that became bigger and bigger through time and even forming the cores of planets like Jupiter and Uranus.
The exact same happened to our Earth and Mars but cause of the lack of ice around there, the dust that existed with the years formed rocks that later became the cores of the planets. Also interesting is how they gained the name Comets.
Comets came from the Greek Κομήτες(Kometes) that comes from the also Greek Κόμη(Kome) meaning long hair and if you are wondering how this fits, is because comets have a tail similar to a long hair that we all have seen from movies,books and games. That tail or ''coma'' as it is called forms when a comet is near our sun as it is warmed up and the ice melts. According to the scientists there are actually 2 tails one dusty tail and a gassy one.
Fun Comet Facts
1)As you already know Asteroids have a moon maybe 2 sometimes but that isn't the case with comets. Also Asteroids are millions and millions but comets for what scientists have discover are about 4000 and can even have the size of a small town!
2) As we seen yesterday once again the Asteroids at least for now can't hurt us even though they may be responsible for the obliteration of dinosaurs. The exact same applies for comets as scientists aren't exactly sure if the dinosaurs died because of a comet or an Asteroid but they believe that such sizes can be only happen once in millions years so we survived this too :P
Comet Hale-Bopp
3) We all might have heard about comet Halley but what do you know exactly? Why it took that name and is it that important to name him? Mankind witnessed many comets throughout the history but as usual it was all gods and demons so around 1450 some astronomers try to record the paths and later on 1705 Edmond Halley say something magnificent and that is that some of the comets we see, are the one and same that come over again and again and more particular he says about one comets that arrives every 76 years. Sadly he died before he proves that but after some years the exact same date he said a comet passes again and that comet earns as a tribute his name Halley!
I hope i cleared any misunderstanding with the Asteroids and helped you a learn a thing or two about comets as i did too!
images and gifs 1 2 3 4
Sources
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/comets/indepthhttps://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/comets/indepth
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/comets/faq
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/comets/needtoknow
Nice! I never knew where the term for a comet came from until today.
everyday we learn something new! :)
Haha! I hope this was a direct result of our conversation yesterday! Those are fun comet facts. I can't recally if I've ever seen one, but I was always on the lookout for any sighting growing up. Comets are so fascinating. They look so majestic and they feel so out of reach. I guess it's the tail that separates it from the other celestial bodies.
actually i was thinking to post it along side meteors too but i was reluctant. After your post i said to myself ok let's do it :p
am i the only one who still don't understand the difference between a comet and an asteroid? 😨
they're both rocky. they're both leftovers. well isn't everything a leftover from the big bang?
moons and rings make the only difference?
comets have ice, no moons around them and 2 tails while asteroids are just rocky, have no tail and have moon maybe 2 moons
ok 👌 understood!
Comets usually have two tails. First, the dust can be seen with the naked eye. The second tail consists of gas, stretching up to three hundred sixty miles. Ion tail is a result of the solar wind. Orbit of a comet resembles an elliptical shape. When the body approaches the Sun, ice component begins to heat up, causing evaporation. Gases together with the dust form a cloud called a coma, which moves with the body. As you move to the star dust from the debris blown away from the body, forming the dust tail.