Comets
A bright comet is a spectacular astronomical event. Throughout history, comets have left a strong impression on those who have witnessed their appearances. The name comes from the Greek kometes...
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Comet Capture
Comets are the most volatile-rich minor bodies in the solar system. It has been suggested that impacts with comets and asteroids provided Earth with much of its water. Although most come...
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Comets, Predicting
When comets are first seen through a telescope, they are faint, "fuzzy" patches of light at the limit of visibility. A few years ago, most comets were discovered by am...
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Observing and Defining Comets
Overview
By the middle of the fifteenth century, improvements in the accuracy of astronomical observing instruments and the use of geometrical mathematics presaged a clos...
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Comets
Comets are objects—relatively small compared to planets—that are composed of dust and ices of various compounds. Comets orbit the Sun in elongated elliptical (eccentric, elongated...
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Comets
Comets are small astronomical bodies that are composed chiefly of dust and ice crystals that orbit the Sun along highly elliptical orbital paths. As comets approach the Sun a portion of the com...
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Comet
Generally consisting of a nucleus, head, and tail, comets are celestial bodies, similar in appearance to stars, whose origins and structures scientists are still in the process of determining. B...
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Comets
Comets, Predicting
Observing and Defining Comets
Comets
Comets
Comet