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The temperature on a comet will vary by its position in its orbit. The part exposed to direct sunlight can easily reach 100°C or higher when close to the Sun. When a comet is at its farthest from the Sun, its temperature falls to as low as 4 K (-269°C), the effective temperature of outer space.

The temperature on a comet near Earth's orbit was measured by a NASA probe. The surface temperature on the Sun side was up to 50°C (122°F), while the side facing away was still -30°C to -80°C, indicating that the heat there had re-radiated into space, or been lost in the release of gas and dust. When the comet Ikeya-Seki curved around the sun last October, many astargazer's camera was focused on its fiery trail. But two California Institute of Technology researchers were deter mined to record far more than mere surface glow. And the Astrophysical Journal last week reported remarkable success. Eric Becklin, a graduate student in physics, and James Westphal, a senior research fellow in planetary science, not only obtained the first temperature measurements ever made of a comet, they also gained valuable insight into a comet's composition and behavior.

After fitting a 24-inch telescope with a sensitive infra-red detector, the Caltech scientists trained it on the comet for 19 days during its passage around the sun. Their first temperature measurement-700° F.-was made when Ikeya-Seki came within 45 million miles of the sun and heated up enough for its infra-red emissions to be picked up on earth. As the comet raced closer to the sun, its temperature climbed gradually, reaching 1,200° F. about 20 million miles from the solar surface. Then the comet's emissions were blotted out by the sun's own fierce radiation. On the return leg of its journey, Ikeya-Seki displayed identical temperature variations, dropping from 1,200° F. at 20 million miles to 700° F. at 45 million miles.

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