SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Comets have been called “dirty snowballs.” They are small celestial objects, made of ice, gas, dust, and a small amount of organic material, that orbit our Sun.

Detailed explanation-2: -Comets are several miles in diameter, composed of rock, ice and other organic compounds, making them “dirty snowballs” in space, according to NASA’s near earth object program. They originate outside the orbit of the outermost planets and form elliptical orbits that pass close to the sun.

Detailed explanation-3: -When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles.

Detailed explanation-4: -dust tail: up to 10 million km long composed of smoke-sized dust particles driven off the nucleus by escaping gases; this is the most prominent part of a comet to the naked eye; ion tail: up to 100 million km long composed of plasma and laced with rays and streamers caused by interactions with the solar wind.