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Assorted gasses like carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, plus dust.

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Do comets emit light?

Yes, comets emit light through a process called outgassing, where ices on the surface vaporize as the comet gets closer to the Sun. Sunlight reflects off the gases and dust surrounding the comet, creating a glowing halo or tail.


What is a big ball of dirty ice and snow in outer space?

Such objects can have several different names, depending on their location in the solar system and/or their characteristics. If the object is close enough to the sun to off-gas some ice or other volatile compounds, it is a comet. If it orbits the sun, inside the orbit of the outermost planet, it may be a meteoroid or asteroid, depending on the size. If it lies outside the planetary orbit, it may be a Kuiper Belt Object. If it orbits a planet, it may be a moon, if its big enough, or part of a ring system, if it's small, and accompanied by many other similar objects.


Why don't the rocks from tail of a connet fall on the earth?

Sometimes they do; that's what a "meteor shower" is. The point is that all of the rocks and dust given off by a comet, and the head of the comet too, travel the way gravity and the light pressure of the Sun force them to. The head of the comet is freely falling towards the Sun. (if a comet gets close enough to a planet, the gravity of the planet becomes significant, and sometimes the comet will collide with the planet; look at Shoemaker-Levy 9, which hit Jupiter in 1994.) As the heat of the Sun begins to melt the ices of the comet, gas and dust escape from the comet. Because the gas molecules and dust particles are very light, the pressure of the Sun's light pushes them away from the comet; this forms the "tail" of the comet. Over the course of thousands of orbits, the gas and dust spreads out to fill in much of the orbit of the comet. Where the Earth's orbit intersects the comet's orbit, we see annual meteor showers.


Is the tail of a comet made of Melted materials?

Comets are usually made of high amounts of Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Water, and also may contain Silica, traces of metal, and oxygen, like a giant dirty snow ball. In space as the cosmic radiation smashes into the comet at near speeds of light and heats the outer layer, bits and pieces fall off and trail behind the comet. For a relatively short while, the chunks fortunate to stay in fairly good sizes or obscured from the light by other chunks or dust, are able to maintain these materials. After gases sublimate and and break down into neutrinos and electrons and such things. The remains are the tougher elements such as silica and metal, However after a while these eventually break up also.


How long can comets last?

There is no one answer for this question. It would depend on its original mass and composition, and how close its orbit brings it to the Sun, or to Jupiter, and how long the orbit is. The greater the initial mass, the more passes by the Sun the comet can survive. Each pass close to the Sun boils off a significant amount of ice and dust; eventually, there would be nothing left. Many comets collide with other bodies such as planets. In 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and crashed into Jupiter. We know that at least five times in Earth's past, massive impacts have caused global devastation; one such impact 65 million years ago killed off the dinosaurs. We don't know if that was an asteroid or a comet. The farther out its orbit goes, the longer the comet can survive. It freezes more solidly, gets a chance to accrete some additional mass. Scientists believe that Halley's Comet, for example, may last for 10 million years.

Related Questions

How a comet changes when it comes close to the Sun.?

As a comet nears the sun, a tail forms from the solar wind blowing off dust particles from the comet. The tail lengthens as the solar wind intensifies and the comet approaches closer and closer. In some cases, comets have been known to collide with the sun, fragment, or completely burn away due to the sun.


Do comets emit light?

Yes, comets emit light through a process called outgassing, where ices on the surface vaporize as the comet gets closer to the Sun. Sunlight reflects off the gases and dust surrounding the comet, creating a glowing halo or tail.


Why does a comet appear bright when it passes through the inner solar system?

When a comet passes through the inner solar system, it gets closer to the Sun, which causes the Sun's heat to vaporize the comet's icy surface. This creates a glowing cloud of gas and dust around the comet, called a coma, which reflects sunlight and makes the comet appear bright. Additionally, as the comet moves closer to Earth, it may also appear brighter in the night sky.


What happens to the comets tail as it gets closer to the sun?

The increased solar wind pushes off more and more vapor and dust from the nucleus of the comet, and the tail stretches out further into space - 200 million miles is not uncommon. But even at that, the amount of solids in a cometary tail of that length is estimated to be less than would fill a standard size suitcase. One astronomer observed that a comet's tail was "as close as you can get to absolutely nothing, and still have something".


When was Off on a Comet created?

Off on a Comet was created in 1877.


Do comets appear darker or lighter as they get closer to the sun?

Comets get brighter the closer they get to the sun for two reasons: the sunlight is brighter closer to the sun than it is further away and the comet heats up closer to the sun causing outgassing and the formation of a large coma composed of dust particles and gas around the comet itself giving a much larger area for sunlight to reflect off of.


How does ben get the omnitricks?

he gets it from the crashed comet. it jumps out from the rock and attaches itself upon his rist and will not come off


Who wrote off on a comet?

Jules Verne wrote Off on a Comet.


Why do comets have a tail when they are close to the sun?

The comet's tail forms as it approaches the Sun because the Sun warms the comet up and it starts to sublimate. That cloud of gas that forms the tail points away from the Sun because of the force of the Solar Winds that are generated by the Sun's emmisions into space.


Why do comets tail always stream away from the sun?

Comet tails always stream away from the sun due to the solar wind, which is a stream of charged particles emitted by the sun. The solar wind pushes against the gas and dust particles in the comet's coma (a cloud of gas and dust surrounding the nucleus) and causes them to form a tail that points away from the sun.


How do after school sports help you from staying out of trouble?

it gets you closer to the teachers making it more likely for the to leave you off with a warning


If a guy gets a bonner in the pool an comes will it kill it?

yes it will drop off and float