COMETS

BY HARLEIGH ROBERTS

What's a comet?

COMETS are made up of a nucleus that has water,

methane, nitrogen, and ices.

COMETS are the solar systems of ices and dusty rocks.

HOW DOES IT GET IT'S CHARACTERISTICS?

From the sun's heat and the wind that blows the ices
and dust together creating the COMETS TAIL. This wind
creates a gas within the wind and creates the a PLASMA
TAIL, which what we see when a comet passes by Earth.

Inside look of Comet...

MADE OF?

3 parts- Nucleus, coma, and tails

Nucleus- Made of ice, gas, and rocks

Coma- The dusty gas that surrounds the nucleus

which makes the comet have energy to fly off in
directions caused by the sun's heat reaction.
Tails- The energy that forms the tail- like feature
when the comet is off to speed

Types of Comets...
PERIODIC

Named by the year it's discovered, the half- month discovered in, and
the order it was discovered. ( P/---- --)

Have orbital periods less than 200 years

NON-PERIODIC

Named by the year it's discovered, the half- month discovered in, and
the order it was discovered. (C/----- --)

Have orbital periods more than 200 years

History
Many

myths were first from people thinking

the comets tail was "poisonous". Until later
on, scientists first proved this theory wrong,
such as Isaac Newton proved the comets had
orbits. Then missions were sent out to space
to figure out the structure of Comets and
more detailed information about them.

Orbits...

Have

elliptical orbits

Orbits
Long

around sun every 20 years

orbits can last up to 200 years (Halleytype comets)

Where do Comets appear?

Comets

appear in the Kuiper Belt,

and the Oort Cloud.

The

comets that come from the

Oort Cloud are the comets usually
to have the longer orbital periods.

Comets

from the Kuiper Belt have

shorter orbital periods and go
more along the planets plane.

When do Comets happen?

A

"great Comet" is said to happen every 10

years

Most

comets are very hard to see but occur

often
We

can see comets when the tail is shown by

the suns light and is reflected off

What comets leave behind..

METEOR SHOWERS
The debris that is left after the
comet passes by, a meteor shower
occurs!
Perseid

happens every year

(August 9 & 13)

Famous Comets

Halley's Comet (1986)- Occurs every 76 years

Shoemaker-Levy 9 (1994)- Collided with Jupiter, ripped into 21

pieces and created the largest collision that was 1,800 miles
( ALMOST AS BIG AS EARTH)

Hale- Bopp (1997)- Came 122 miles to Earth and caused a bright
dust of gas

Comet Swift-Tuttle (1992)- Said to collide with Earth since its close
orbits

Comet Hyakutake (1996)- This comets tail said to be the longest

seen!

What's the difference between

Asteroids & Comets?
Asteroids

Comets
Remain solid when reaching near the sun

Loses ice materials when near the

sun

Lie within the Kuiper Belt, and Oort

cloud

Formed further from the sun

Have tails

Long Orbital periods

Lie in the Asteroid Belt

Form closer to the sun

Shorter orbital periods

SOURCES

http://space-facts.com/comets/

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/deepimpact/educ/CometFacts.html

http://theplanets.org/comets/

http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.h
tml

http://www.universetoday.com/33006/what-is-the-difference-between-as
teroids-and-comets/