Why do astronomers believe they can learn about the early earth by studing comets?

Answer 1

Because comets were created about the same time as the Earth.

Answer 2

Astronomers believe that studying comets can provide insights into the early Earth because comets are believed to be remnants from the early solar system. By analyzing the composition of comets, astronomers can understand the chemical environment of the early solar system, which can shed light on the conditions that existed during the formation of Earth.

Answer 3

Many astronomers think comets date from the founding of the Solar System. They contain the same elements in the same percentages as the early earth.

Since its creation 4.4 billion years ago, the earth has been through chaos. Its surface has been churned over many times. Much of the heaviest material has fallen to the center of the earth. By studying comets, they can find out about the early earth and compare the materials it contained with the current materials in the earth's surface.

The materials not present in the earth's surface are in or near the earth's core. That makes it possible to understand and predict the earth's magnetic field.

Answer 4

The study of comets may seem to be removed and irrelevant to studies on Earth. However, comets are thought to have had a huge impact on the evolution of life as we know it. It has been suggested that they brought water and some organic molecules to Earth, allowing life to begin. The study of the composition of comets allows scientists to draw parallels between our solar system and distant stars, and so can tell us about our own planet's history and also about far off galaxies. This obviously can have major implications for our understanding of the universe and our place within it.

Answer 5

Comets have this strange duality whereby they first brought the building blocks of life to Earth some 3.8 billion years ago and subsequent cometary collisions may have wiped out many of the developing life forms, allowing only the most adaptable species to evolve further. Indeed, we may owe our preeminence at the top of Earth's food chain to cometary collisions. A catastrophic cometary collision with the Earth is only likely to happen at several million year intervals on average, so we need not be overly concerned with a threat of this type. However, it is prudent to mount efforts to discover and study these objects, to characterize their sizes, compositions and structures and to keep an eye upon their future trajectories.

Answer 6

It is a difficult question. After all, the nearest large galaxy to our own, the Andromeda galaxy, is over 2.5 million light-years away from us, and most are even farther! Astronomers study other galaxies for many reasons. They look for signs of life or activity in other galaxies. They monitor stellar activity and star formation. Mostly, they look because, above all else, scientists want to know what the universe looks like. Scientists studying other galaxies are like a man in a small room looking out his window at the world with awe, longing for the day he can venture out into it.

Answer 7

As far as we know, comets don't serve any useful purpose and we don't

need them at all. But that doesn't seem to make any difference. Nobody

ever asked us, and comets are there anyway.

Answer 8

Comets, asteroids and meteorites are all leftover pieces of rock from the formation of our solar system. Astronomers get clues of how the early universe was like, by studying the sizes, locations, chemical composition of the 'space rocks'.

Answer 9

Meteorites are rocks that fall from space and hit the Earth. Meteoroids are rocks that fall from space and miss the Earth. Scientists study meteorites to learn about the formation of the solar system, the composition of gasses and dust, and how fast rocks condense in space.

Answer 10

Because comets are bright, beautiful and fun to watch.

Oh, and also because studying comets can tell us a lot about how the solar system developed, and how the universe began.