SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. 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.

Detailed explanation-2: -Every comet is made of the same basic ingredients–ice and dust. However, comets vary in how much of the ice is water ice and how much is ice made of other substances, including methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur, and hydrogen sulfide.

Detailed explanation-3: -At the heart of every comet is a solid, frozen core called the nucleus. This ball of dust and ice is usually less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) across – about the size of a small town.

Detailed explanation-4: -Coma. As a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus begins turning into a gas via a process called sublimation, forming a cloud around the comet known as the coma. According to the science website howstuffworks.com (opens in new tab) the coma is often 1, 000 times larger than the nucleus.

Detailed explanation-5: -Asteroids are smaller than a planet, but they are larger than the pebble-size objects we call meteoroids. Comets are small icy dirtballs that orbit the Sun; comets are made of ice and dust while asteroids are made of rock).