2W Comets

What is the coma of a comet? How is it created?

A coma is a dense cloud of water, carbon dioxide and other neutral gases. It is created by the melting of the nucleus.

What is the difference between comets and asteroids?

Asteroids are rocks that have little to no ice and they are generally found around Mars and Jupiter. Also, they can be released by the heat of the sun and glow. Comets can not. Also, comets are the coldest part of the solar system, with their dust and ice well preserved.

What is the nucleus of a comet?

It is a relatively solid and stable mass that is mostly made up of ice and gas, with a small amount of dust and other solids. It is embedded into the coma, and makes up almost all the mass of a comet.

What are comets?

Small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies that contain ice, dust and gas. They move around the sun in highly elliptical orbits.

What are the three main parts of a comet?

The tail, the nucleus, and the coma.

What are the two different classifications of comets? Explain the difference.

The two different types of comets are short-period comets and long-period comets. Short-period comets orbit the sun in less than 200 years. Long-period comets orbit the sun in 200 years or longer.

What are the two different types of tails in a comet? Explain the difference.

The two different types of tails are the dust tail and the ion tail. Dust particles create the dust tail, and it generally points back along the comets path. The ion tail is created by the ions that come from the nucleus. Due to the sun's magnetic field, the ion tail always faces directly away from the sun.

How is a meteor shower created?

When the comet comes near the sun, it ejects its material. Debris of it will stay near the comet's orbit, forming a meteor stream. When the Earth's revolution around the sun intersects the orbit of the comet, it will travel through a meteor stream. When the debris enters Earth's atmosphere becaus of a gravitational pull, meteor showers are created.

When can a comet be seen without the use of a telescope?

When the comet passes closely to the sun. This is because the sun reflects off the coma and the tail, making it visible.

What happens to the nucleus when the comet goes towards the sun?

when the comet goes near the sun, the nucleus begins to melt, and solar heat turns the ice in the nucleus into a gaseous haze that surrounds the nucleus. This is known as the coma.