SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Orbit of a Comet. Comets go around the Sun in a highly elliptical orbit. They can spend hundreds and thousands of years out in the depths of the solar system before they return to Sun at their perihelion.

Detailed explanation-2: -Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trail of dust and gas left by a comet along its elliptical orbit. The particles enter Earth’s atmosphere and most burn up.

Detailed explanation-3: -An elliptical orbit is officially defined as an orbit with an eccentricity less than 1. Circular orbits have an eccentricity of 0, and parabolic orbits have an eccentricity of 1. So circular orbits technically ARE elliptical. But parabolic orbits are NOT elliptical.

Detailed explanation-4: -Most comets travel in highly elliptical orbits around the Sun with orbital periods (time between returns) ranging from just over three years to millions of years.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most asteroids are irregularly shaped, though a few are nearly spherical, and they are often pitted or cratered. As they revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits, the asteroids also rotate, sometimes quite erratically, tumbling as they go.