Clarity on the Concept of Comets

Comets are celestial bodies that are cosmic snowballs consisting of dust, rock, and frozen gases orbiting the Sun. Comets are about the same size as a small town when they are frozen. When the orbit of the comet is closer to the Sun, the comet heats up and spews gases and dust as a glowing head that is larger than most of the planets. The gases and dust form a tail (coma) stretched away from the Sun for millions of miles. The number of comets orbiting the Sun is probably billions in the Kuiper Belt and more in the distant Oort Cloud. The number of known comets, so far, is 3,743.

Physical characteristics of comets

The physical characteristics of a comet include the following:

1. Nucleus
2. Coma
3. Ion tail
4. Dust tail
5. Hydrogen envelope
6. Orbital velocity direction

Where do comets come from?

The short-period comets that take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun are found in the disc-like belt of icy bodies beyond the planet Neptune. A large number of dark comets orbiting the Sun in the realm of Pluto are occasionally pushed by gravity leading them closer to the Sun. Other comets, such as the less predictable comets, long-period comets, come from the region of Oort Cloud. The long-period comets can take up to 30 million years to complete one round around the Sun.

How do comets get their names?

Comets are generally named after the discoverer of the comet, a spacecraft, or a person. This International Astronomical Union guideline was created in the last century. For example, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 got its name because it was the ninth comet discovered by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. A spacecraft is very good at finding comets, resulting in many comets named LINEAR, SOHO, or WISE.

Famous comets

There are many comets that are extremely famous, in which some are known to ancient humans and some that have appeared only just now. Here are the three most well-known comets.

Halley’s Comet

The comet was discovered in 1705 by Edmond Halley. The comet appears and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years.

Hale-Bopp Comet

The comet Hale-Bopp is popular to most people for the much publicised Californian cult who believed the comet to be a spacecraft. The Comet Hale-Bopp was last seen in 1997 and will not be returning for about a period of 2,300 years. The comet was named after Thomas Bopp and Alan Hale, its co-discoverers.

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

The comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, also popular as SL 9, is named after David Levy, Carolyn Shoemaker, and  Gene Shoemaker, its discoverers. It was a string of comets that got caught in Jupiter’s gravity and started orbiting around the planet. The comet was very irregular and ended by crashing into the planet in a brilliant display during the week of July 16, 1994.

Important facts about comets

• The orbit of the comets around the Sun is elliptical, the same as the planets. However, the path of a comet is much more elliptical than any planet.

• The vast majority of the total mass of the comet is contained in its nucleus.

• A comet that is bright enough to be seen from Earth without a telescope is known as a great comet. A great comet happens approximately every ten years.

• The solar winds that blow the particles of gas away from the Sun result in the ion tail of a comet.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap on comets. We discussed what comets are, the physical characteristics of comets, the origin of the comets, and how the comets are named. We concluded that comets are cosmic snowballs consisting of dust, rock, and frozen gases orbiting the Sun. Moreover, we also discussed some facts about comets and some of the most famous comets.