answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

As a comet approaches the sun, it grows warmer and some of the ices heat up and become gas (sublimating), releasing the dust grains that were trapped in the ice. This dusty gas coming from the nucleus is heated by the sun and forms a glowing hot cloud around the comet called the coma. Even though the nucleus might only be a couple of kilometers across, the cloud (or coma) can grow significantly (up to 100,000 kilometers across) during perihelion (its closest point to the sun). Comets also develop dust and gas tails.

User Avatar

Wiki User

12y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What happens to a comet at perihelion?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Continue Learning about Natural Sciences

Will Halley's comet still be around when the sun becomes a red giant?

The short answer is No, Halley's Comet will not be around when the Sun becomes a red giant. When a comet gets close to the Sun (formally called a perihelion passage), the comet's surface gets heated up, and a layer on the surface sublimates and is lost into space. This means that a comet gets smaller over time, since it loses mass each time it swings by the Sun. As a general rule, a comet whose perihelion is one AU (the same as the average Earth-Sun distance) will lose about one meter of its surface during each perihelion passage. Comets that get closer to the Sun than 1.0 AU may lose several meters of their surface during each perihelion passage. Halley's comet is currently on an orbit with a perihelion of 0.59 AU, so it probably loses several meters from its surface during each perihelion passage. The average diameter of Halley's Comet is about eleven kilometers, so after a few thousand more perihelion passages, none of it will remain. Each orbit of Halley's Comet takes about 75 years, so it will be completely gone within a few hundred thousand years, at most. The Sun will become a red giant in about five billion years, so Halley's Comet would have sublimated out of existence long before then.


Is it possible for a comet to have no tail at its perihelion?

the answer is idk Yes, it does have brighter and longer tail, because during its closest approach to the sun, it was most effected by the sun (evaporating the more water from the comet). When it was further out, when the sun is much further, it will gradually become cooler, no ice evaporating too space, and no tail.


What is a point of a planet's or comet's orbit or another body at which it comes closest to the sun?

This is the Perihelion. The aphelion is when it is at it's most distant point.


Name the comet that blazed through the night sky in 1997?

This comet was named after the 2 scientist who began the study of the effects of the comets collision with Jupiter. Their names were Shoemaker and Levy, thus naming the comet the Shoemaker-Levy comet. Obviously after crashing into Jupiter the comet no longer exists.


Did Haley's comet come the same day as Mark Twain was born then again the day he died as claimed in a movie about him?

No. Comets don't happen on a date, or in a week; they are visible for several weeks, or for months. Halley's Comet was visible for weeks before its perihelion on November 16, 1835; Samuel Clemens (whose pen name was Mark Twain) was born on November 30. The comet's next perihelion on April 20, 1910 does match, with remarkable closeness, Twain's death the next day.

Related questions

When a comet gets closest to the sun it is at its what?

Perihelion


Does a comet move faster in time in the perihelion?

Yes.


When will Halley's comet come back?

The next predicted perihelion of Halley's Comet is 28 July 2061


What famous astronomical event occurred in 1066?

The perihelion of Halley's comet.


If a comets ion tail is pointing perpendicular to its direction of travel the comet is?

Close to or at perihelion.


Will Halley's Comet still be around when the sun turns into a red giant?

The short answer: No, Halley's Comet will not still be around when the Sun becomes a red giant. When a comet gets close to the Sun (formally called a perihelion passage), the comet's surface gets heated up, and a layer on the surface sublimates and is lost into space. This means that a comet gets smaller over time, since it loses mass each time it swings by the Sun. As a general rule, a comet whose perihelion is one AU (the same as the average Earth-Sun distance) will lose about one meter of its surface during each perihelion passage. Comets that get closer to the Sun than 1.0 AU may lose several meters of their surface during each perihelion passage. Halley's comet is currently on an orbit with a perihelion of 0.59 AU, so it probably loses several meters from its surface during each perihelion passage. The average diameter of Halley's Comet is about eleven kilometers, so after a few thousand more perihelion passages, none of it will remain. Each orbit of Halley's Comet takes about 75 years, so it will be completely gone within a few hundred thousand years, at most. The Sun will become a red giant in about five billion years, so Halley's Comet have sublimated out of existence long before then.


Will Halley's comet still be around when the sun becomes a red giant?

The short answer is No, Halley's Comet will not be around when the Sun becomes a red giant. When a comet gets close to the Sun (formally called a perihelion passage), the comet's surface gets heated up, and a layer on the surface sublimates and is lost into space. This means that a comet gets smaller over time, since it loses mass each time it swings by the Sun. As a general rule, a comet whose perihelion is one AU (the same as the average Earth-Sun distance) will lose about one meter of its surface during each perihelion passage. Comets that get closer to the Sun than 1.0 AU may lose several meters of their surface during each perihelion passage. Halley's comet is currently on an orbit with a perihelion of 0.59 AU, so it probably loses several meters from its surface during each perihelion passage. The average diameter of Halley's Comet is about eleven kilometers, so after a few thousand more perihelion passages, none of it will remain. Each orbit of Halley's Comet takes about 75 years, so it will be completely gone within a few hundred thousand years, at most. The Sun will become a red giant in about five billion years, so Halley's Comet would have sublimated out of existence long before then.


What happened on April 1 1997?

According to Wikipedia; "Comet Hale-Bopp is seen passing over perihelion."


Is it possible for a comet to have no tail at its perihelion?

the answer is idk Yes, it does have brighter and longer tail, because during its closest approach to the sun, it was most effected by the sun (evaporating the more water from the comet). When it was further out, when the sun is much further, it will gradually become cooler, no ice evaporating too space, and no tail.


What year will Encke's comet return?

Coming back 6 August 2010 [Perihelion = 0.586 AU] See Wikipedia for more info.


What is a point of a planet's or comet's orbit or another body at which it comes closest to the sun?

This is the Perihelion. The aphelion is when it is at it's most distant point.


What pushes particles in a comets tail?

The pressure of the sun's light shining on the wispy gasses vaporizing from the comet's head push the tail of the comet away from the sun. While it looks like the "tail" of the comet is trailing behind, the tail always points away from the Sun. So after the comet's perihelion (the closest approach to the Sun) the "tail" is actually LEADING the comet!