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Published byDerek Chandler Modified over 9 years ago
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Comets By: Kaya Umeda, Cierra Yoshikawa
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What is a Comet? Small, icy celestial body that orbits around the sun
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Comet Parts Nucleus (ice, gas and dust) – Most of comets mass Coma (water vapor, CO2, and other gases) – Surrounds nucleus Nucleus and Coma form the head
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Parts Cont. Ion Tail (gas) – Approaching sun, trails comet – Leaving sun, leads comet Dust tail (dust) – Long, wide tail composed of microscopic dust particles
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Comet Path Travel in elliptical orbits Velocity increases near sun Visible near sun
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Comet Life Cycle Departure: – Some are not bound to the sun Extinction: – Lose ice and dust each time they come near the sun. – They can lose all their ices and turn into fragile similar to asteroid
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Comet Life Cycle Cont. Breakup: – Comets that lose all their ices break up and dissipate into clouds of dust Collisions: – Orbiting comets can collide with planets and moons
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Characteristics Short-period comets: – Need about 200 yrs or less to complete one orbit – Originate from a disk-shaped band of icy objects
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Characteristics cont. Long-period comets: – Takes more than 200 yrs – Comes from the nearly spherical Oort cloud even further out, which get slung inward by gravitational pull of passing stars
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Comet Names Comet Halley- most famous comet Comet Neat Comet Kohoutek Comet Hyakutake
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Cosmic Snowballs New theory that comets are composed of frozen water are constantly bombarding Earth Vaporize in the atmosphere, adding water vapor to environment
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Works Cited “Comets.” All About Astronomy. N.p. 1999. Web. 11 Jan 2011. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/comet/ “Comets.” The Nine Planets. N.p., 1994. Web. 11 Jan 2011. http://nineplanets.org/comets.html “Comets: Formation, Discovery and Exploration.” Space.com. N.d. Web. 11 Jan 2011. http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html Hamilton, J. Calvin. “Comet Introduction.” View of the Solar System. N.p. 1995. Web. 11 Jan 2011. http://www.solarviews.com/eng/comet.htm
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