Comets | search
Click here to view Comets news from 60+ newspapers.
Bookmark or Share- What Are Comets? - timeanddate.comWhat Are Comets? By Aparna Kher. Comets are small celestial bodies that orbit the Sun. Primarily made of dust and ice, they are thought to be remnants of the formation of the Solar System. Comet PanSTARRS was visible in early 2013. ©thinkstockphoto.com. Where Do Comets Come From? Comets are thought to come from 2 places in the Solar System:
- Comet | Definition, Composition, & Facts | Britannicacomet, a small body orbiting the Sun with a substantial fraction of its composition made up of volatile ices. When a comet comes close to the Sun, the ices sublimate (go directly from the solid to the gas phase) and form, along with entrained dust particles, a bright outflowing atmosphere around the comet nucleus known as a coma.
- Comets explained: An essential guide to the snow cones of spaceWhat exactly is a comet? Comets are leftover material from the formation of the solar system. As the solar system formed about 4.5 billion years ago, most gas, dust, rock and metal ended up in...
- Comets - NASA ScienceComets. Overview. Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock, and ices. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the Sun, they heat up and spew gases and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet.
- What are comets and where do they come from? - Astronomy MagazineFrom the January 2023 issue. What are comets and where do they come from? These mysterious iceballs are key to understanding our solar system’s history. By Walter Harris | Published: January 6,...
More
