Comets: Crash Course Astronomy #21

Available at https://youtu.be/yB9HHyPpKds or just youtube/google “Crash Course Astronomy 21”

1. In general, and like everything else in the sky, comets were considered
__omens_____ or __harbingers_____ of human events.

a. How are comets similar to asteroids? How are they different?

Explain.
They are roughly hewn chunks of stuff left over from the formation
of the solar system, comets are a more balanced mixture of ice and rock

b. Astronomers sometimes call comets “___dirty snowballs_____”.

i. As they heat up, the ice turns directly into a gas—a process called
______sublimation_______. The gas then flows away from the comet,
creating a ___cloud____ around it. This makes the comet look fuzzy, and
actually in the past they’ve been called “_____hairy stars_______”.

c. The solid part of the comet is called the ___nucleus__________, and the gaseous
cloud around it is called the ___coma________.

d. What are the two different tails of the comet? Explain.

Dust tails and Ion tails. Dust tails look white or a little yellowish due to reflected
sunlight, while the Ion tail glows blue or green, depending on the primary
constituents of the gas

i. Despite their length, tails are incredibly ____low density__________.

e. If comets have orbital periods less than 200 years, they’re called _short-period____
____comets____. Comets that take longer than two centuries to go around the Sun
are called ___long-term comets_______.

f. The surfaces of comets must be inhomogeneous, ___different_______ in

__different places___.

g. What are some characteristics of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko?

Explain.
Measures about 4 kilometers end to end, 2 lobes connected
by a narrow neck, surface completely devoid of craters, wide
circular pits here and there which may be gas vents growing
wider over time

i. ___Rosetta_________ is the first time in human history

we’ve had a __probe____ orbiting a comet, studying
it up close and long-term.
This study source was downloaded by 100000878715080 from CourseHero.com on 01-02-2024 14:44:00 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/113177449/Crash-Course-21-COMPLETEdoc/
 h. It’s possible that the ____ingredients of life___ on Earth didn’t start here, but
instead were brought to our planet from _____comet impacts________.

This study source was downloaded by 100000878715080 from CourseHero.com on 01-02-2024 14:44:00 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/113177449/Crash-Course-21-COMPLETEdoc/
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