This article is from the series "The Solar System" where we will be sharing interesting facts about everything, from the origin of the Solar System to the mysterious massive planet 9. Please follow our social media accounts to get regular updates.
While most of the objects in the dark sky stay stationary and tiny, we do have some wild and shiny guests from time to time. These glittery cosmic creatures are comets ( ☄ , धूमकेतु ). These not-so-tiny stones catch fire when they come near the Sun and gives us the light show.
Here are some interesting facts about the rockstars of our Solar system, Comets:
The coma may be up to 15 times the Earth‘s diameter, while the tail may stretch one Astronomical Unit
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The astronomical symbol for comets is ☄, consisting of a small disc with three hairlike extensions
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Fear of comets as acts of God and signs of impending doom was highest in Europe from AD 1200 to 1650
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Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune. Long-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort cloud
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Sometimes comets are referred to as “dirty snowballs” or “cosmic snowballs”
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The coma is generally made of H2O and dust, with water making up to 90% of the volatiles that outflow from the nucleus when the comet is within 3 to 4 astronomical units of the Sun
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In the outer Solar System, comets remain frozen and inactive and are extremely difficult or impossible to detect from Earth due to their small size
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These streams of gas and dust can cause the nucleus to spin, and even split apart
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The Perseid meteor shower, for example, occurs every year between 9 and 13 August, when Earth passes through the orbit of Comet Swift–Tuttle. Halley’s Comet is the source of the Orionid shower in October
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The reservoir of comet-like bodies in the outer Solar System (in the Oort cloud) is estimated to be one trillion
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Manx comets do not have a tail
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Approximately once a decade, a comet becomes bright enough to be noticed by a casual observer, leading such comets to be designated as ‘great comets’
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The collision provided new information about Jupiter and highlighted its possible role in reducing space debris in the inner Solar System
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Halley last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061
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NASA’s Deep Impact blasted a crater on Comet Tempel 1 to study its interior
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Source: Wikipedia
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