Comets are icy bodies of frozen gases, rocks and dust left over from the formation
of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. They orbit the sun in highly elliptical
orbits that can take hundreds of thousands of years to complete.
As a comet approaches the sun, it heats up very quickly causing solid ice to turn
directly into gas via a process called sublimation, according to the Lunar and Planetary
Institute. The gas contains water vapor, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other
trace substances, and is eventually swept into the distinctive comet tail.
Scientists sometimes call comets dirty snowballs or snowy dirtballs, depending on
whether they contain more ice material or rocky debris according to NASA.
Related: Amazing photos of Comet NEOWISE from Earth and space
According to NASA, as of September 2021, the current number of known comets is 3,743.
Though billions more are thought to be orbiting the sun beyond Neptune in
the Kuiper Belt and the distant Oort cloud far beyond Pluto.
Occasionally, a comet streaks through the inner solar system; some do so regularly,
some only once every few centuries. Many people have never seen a comet, but
those who have won't easily forget the celestial show.
What is a comet made of?
A comet primarily consists of a nucleus, coma, hydrogen envelope, dust and plasma
tails. Scientists analyze these components to learn about the size and location of
these icy bodies, according to ESA.
Nucleus
The nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko imaged by Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 177
miles (285 km). (Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA)
The nucleus is the solid core of a comet consisting of frozen molecules including
water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia as well as other
inorganic and organic molecules — dust. According to ESA the nucleus of a comet is
usually around 10 kilometers across or less.
Coma
As a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus begins
turning into gas, forming a cloud around the comet known as the coma. According
to science website howstuffworks.com the coma is often 1,000 times larger than the
nucleus.
Hydrogen envelope
Surrounding the coma is a hydrogen envelope that can be up to 6.2 million miles
(10 million kilometers) long and is made from hydrogen atoms according to ESA. As
the comet gets closer to the sun, the hydrogen envelope gets bigger.
Tails
Comet C/1995 01 Hale-Bopp captured on March 14, 1997. In this image you can see the dust tail streaking out to the right whist
the blue ion tail points away from the sun. (Image credit: ESO/E. Slawik)
There are two main types of comet tails, dust and gas. Comet tails are shaped by
sunlight and the solar wind and always point away from the sun according
to Swinburne University of Technology.
According to NASA, comet tails get longer as a comet approaches the sun and can
end up millions of miles long. The dust tail is formed when solar wind pushes small
particles in the coma into an elongated curved path. Whereas the ion tail is formed
from electrically charged molecules of gas.
Comet tails may spray planets, as was the case in 2013 with Comet Siding Spring's
close encounter with Mars.
We can see a number of comets with the naked eye when they pass close to the
sun because their comas and tails reflect sunlight or even glow because of energy
they absorb from the sun. However, most comets are too small or too faint to be
seen without a telescope.
Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can lead to meteor showers on
Earth. For instance, the Perseid meteor shower occurs every year between August 9
and 13 when Earth passes through the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle.
Comet orbits
Astronomers classify comets based on the durations of their orbits around the sun.
Short-period comets need roughly 200 years or less to complete one orbit, long-
period comets take more than 200 years, and single-apparition comets are not bound
to the sun, on orbits that take them out of the solar system, according to NASA.
Recently, scientists have also discovered comets in the main asteroid belt — these
main-belt comets might be a key source of water for the inner terrestrial planets.
Scientists think short-period comets, also known as periodic comets, originate from a
disk-shaped band of icy objects known as the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune's orbit,
with gravitational interactions with the outer planets dragging these bodies inward,
where they become active comets. Long-period comets are thought to come from
the nearly spherical Oort Cloud even further out, which get slung inward by the
gravitational pull of passing stars. In 2017, scientists found there may be seven
times more big long-period comets than previously thought.
Some comets, called sun-grazers, smash right into the sun or get so close that they
break up and evaporate. Some researchers are also concerned that comets may pose a
threat to Earth as well.
Comet McNaught (Comet C/2006 P1) behind Mount Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert. This image was captured in January
2007. Comet McNaught was the brightest comet seen since 1965 and, in some places, it was even visible to the naked eye during
the day! (Image credit: S. Deiries/ESO)
Naming a comet
Comets are generally named after their discoverer. For example, comet Shoemaker-
Levy 9 got its name because it was the ninth short-periodic comet discovered by
Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy. Spacecraft have proven very
effective at spotting comets as well, so the names of many comets incorporate the
names of missions such as SOHO or WISE.
Comets through history
In antiquity, comets inspired both awe and alarm, "hairy stars" resembling fiery
swords that appeared unpredictably in the sky. Often, comets seemed to be omens
of doom — the most ancient known mythology, the Babylonian "Epic of Gilgamesh,"
described fire, brimstone, and flood with the arrival of a comet, and the
Roman emperor Nero saved himself from the "curse of the comet" by having all
possible successors to his throne executed. This fear was not just limited to the
distant past — in 1910, people in Chicago sealed their windows to protect
themselves from what they thought was the comet's poisonous tail.
For centuries, scientists thought comets traveled in the Earth's atmosphere, but in 1577,
observations made by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe revealed they actually
traveled far beyond the moon. Isaac Newton later discovered that comets move in
elliptical, oval-shaped orbits around the sun, and correctly predicted that they could
return again and again.
Chinese astronomers kept extensive records on comets for centuries, including
observations of Halley's Comet going back to at least 240 B.C., historic annals that
have proven valuable resources for later astronomers.
Comet missions
A number of missions have ventured to comets.
NASA's Deep Impact collided an impactor into Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and recorded
the dramatic explosion that revealed the interior composition and structure of the
nucleus. The mission also included a flyby of Comet Hartley 2 and the remote
sensing of Comet Garradd during an extended mission.
Comet Tempel 1 67 seconds after NASA's Deep Impact's impactor spacecraft crashed into the comet. The image was captured by
a high-resolution camera on the mission's flyby craft. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD)
