SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -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. Like all orbiting bodies, comets follow Kepler’s Laws-the closer they are to the Sun, the faster they move.

Detailed explanation-2: -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.

Detailed explanation-3: -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-4: -Planets have a low eccentricity, that is they are very circle-like. They are not very elliptical. Comets have highly elliptical orbits-an oval with the Sun near the very end of one ellipse. They often have parabolic, or open, orbits meaning they may not return to the same position again.

Detailed explanation-5: -But when a comet gets close to the Sun, it starts heating up. Eventually, the ice begins to turn to gas. This can also cause jets of gas to burst out of the comet, bringing dust with it. The gas and dust create a huge, fuzzy cloud around the nucleus called the coma.