The Process of Forming Comet Tails Page all

KOMPAS.com – Comets are icy bodies of frozen gas, rock, and dust left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago.

Comets orbit the sun in highly elliptical orbits that can take hundreds of thousands of years.

According to NASA, as of September 2021, the currently known number of comets is 3,743.

However, it is estimated that there are still billions of comets orbiting the sun beyond Neptune in the Kuiper Belt and Oort clouds, far beyond Pluto.

Occasionally, a comet streaks through the inner solar system. Some comets do so regularly and some only once for several centuries.

Also read: What is the Difference Between Comet and Meteor?

Reported from Canon Science Lab, Comets consist of rock, metal dust, and frozen dust of volatile matter.

When far from the sun, comets are like rocks rolling around in the universe.

However, as it approaches the sun, the sun’s heat vaporizes the comet’s gases so that the comet emits dust and micro-particles (electrons and ions).

These ingredients make up comet tail whose flow is affected by the pressure of solar radiation.

There are two types of comet tails that reflect the light spectrum differently.

Also read: Get to know Comet Leonard that will pass near Earth today

One is the plasma trail, which draws straight lines like a broom.

The plasma tail consists of electrons and ions that are ionized by the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.

The other tail is the dust tail, which opens like a feather on a broom. The dust tail is made up of micrometer scale particles.

The dust tail is wide and slightly bent due to the pressure of light from the sun and the orbital action of the comet’s core.

Reported from Space, Some comets can be seen with the naked eye when they pass close to the sun because of the comet’s coma and tail reflecting sunlight or even shining because of the energy absorbed from the sun.

However, most comets are too small or too faint to be seen without a telescope.

Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can cause meteor showers on Earth.

For example, the Perseid meteor shower occurs annually between August 9 and 13 when Earth passes through the orbit of Comet Swift-Tuttle.

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