SOLAR SYSTEM

UNIVERSE

ASTEROIDS

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a comet?
A
Comet orbits the sun
B
Comet is an icy object.
C
Comet is a rocky fragment.
D
Comets have a tail made of gas, ion and dust.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Astronomer Fred Whipple created the term “dirty snowballs” as one of the many ways to describe the characteristics of comets. These bodies are made of dust, rocks, organic compounds, and ice, and have three parts: nucleus, coma, and tail.

Detailed explanation-2: -The solid, core structure of a comet is known as the nucleus. Cometary nuclei are composed of an amalgamation of rock, dust, water ice, and frozen carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia. As such, they are popularly described as “dirty snowballs” after Fred Whipple’s model.

Detailed explanation-3: -The solid nucleus or core of a comet consists mostly of ice and dust coated with dark organic material, according to NASA, with the ice composed mainly of frozen water but perhaps other frozen substances as well, such as ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane. The nucleus may have a small rocky core.

Detailed explanation-4: -Asteroids are small rocky planetoids, while comets are formed of frozen gases held together by rocky and metallic material.

There is 1 question to complete.