…in the rough! Comets consist of dust, ice and rock.
They have a variety of different orbital periods, ranging from a few years, to hundreds of thousands of years. Orbits extending only as far as Jupiter while others have orbits extending well beyond Pluto.
As it approaches the Sun, the sun’s radiation warms and excites the comet’s nucleus causing it to glow and reflect the solar radiation. Solar wind pushes the excited material away causing a tail to form.
The tail follows an incoming comet and proceeds an outbound comet.
Comet Hyakutake
Discovered less than three months before it’s closest approach to Earth 3/25/96.
It was the brightest comet in 22 years with a tail extending across half of a dark night sky.
Comet Hyakutake should return to our part of space in 29500 years!
Comet Hale-Bopp
Discovered in July of 1995 it’s closest approach to Earth was on 3/22/97.
An extraordinarily bright comet, 1000 times brighter than Comet Halley when discovered.
It was even brighter than Hyakutake, but it had a pair of short tails, one of yellowish dust and reflected sunlight and the other a bluish tail of ionized gas. Hale-Bopp should return in 2980 years.
wow, miss overproductive! So many beautiful posts in so few days! How do you do it?