Where do comets come from & how ?
Comets are small celestial bodies that appear in the night sky as a ball inside a long, thin envelope of visible light. They are composed of water, frozen gasses and dust.often referred to as "dirty snowballs."
Comets are actually collections of materials left over from the formation of the solar system. This makes them especially interesting to astronomers because the solar system formed around 4,600 million years ago! Studying the composition of comets can tell us something about the history of the solar system.
comets are found in two regions of solar system.
- Kuiper belt
- Oort cloud
also there are two types of comet Short period and long period comets.
Short Period Comet :-
These types of comets frequently appears in the solar system and comes from kuiper belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune.
Long Period Comet :-
These types of comets takes thousand of years to complete the orbit and comes from oort cloud,a vast group of frozen bodies that surrounds the solar system.
okay.now we know the location of comets but one of the interesting question is how they enters in the solar system.
answer is the gravity of the outer planets of solar system cause the comet to enter in the solar system.
below animation from ESA will help you to understand more clearly.
as shown in the animation comets gains its tail because of the radiation from sun which cause the comet to burn and releaseas gas and dust.
As comets pass through the inner solar system, the radiation from the Sun causes them heat up, evaporating the dusty-icy materials of the comet. These particles are left in the wake of the comets passage creating a stream of small debris that is strewn along the comets orbital path. If the orbit of the Earth intersects the orbital path of a comet, then at regular predictable times throughout the year the Earth will pass through the
stream of debris creating a meteor shower.
Below are some example of the comets that passed through solar system in past time.
stream of debris creating a meteor shower.
Below are some example of the comets that passed through solar system in past time.
