Comets are microscopic bodies made of ice and dust that formed during the early formation of the solar system. Their nuclei contain water, methane, and other ices. When heated by the Sun, these ices melt and form two tails - a dust tail and an ion tail. Comets originate from the Oort cloud and Kuiper belt, and are believed to have brought water and organic molecules to Earth. Famous comets include Halley's Comet which returns every 75 years, as well as Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake.

1. An Exploration of the Comet
By Amita Vadlamudi

2. A Comet blazing across the sky

3. What is a Comet?
• Comets are microscopic sized bodies in the solar
system which are mainly made of ice and small
amounts of dust and rock mixed together. The
main body of the comet is called the nucleus
which contains water, methane, nitrogen, and
other types of ice.
• Astronomers believe that comets are the
remnants of planets from the time the solar
system was forming 4.6 billion years ago.

4. Composition of Comets:
• The part of the comet that we see from the Earth
is its dust tail. The dust tail is formed when the
comet is heated by the Sun and the ice tends to
melt. The mixture of the ice and dust blows away
from the nucleus of the comet in the solar wind
which creates a pair of tails.
• Some researchers believe that the comets might
be the ones to have originally brought water and
organic molecules to the Earth and now are part
of life here.

5. Where do Comets come from?
• The Comets are thought to come from 2 places in the
Solar System:
• The Oort Cloud: The Oort clouds are known as the
long period comets since they tend to have lengthy
time periods of orbit that span up to several million
years.
• The Kuiper Belt: The region goes beyond the orbit of
Neptune. The comets of the Kuiper Belt are known as
short comets since their orbital period lasts only for
200 years.

6. How are Comets made?
• Comets are thought to have come from the
material that had been leftover when our
solar system came into being. A huge cloud of
gas and dust formed the solar system. It is
known to have dismantled about 4.6 billion
years ago. Majority of the components of the
cloud clumped together to make planets
which now revolve around the sun.

7. Famous Comets
• The most well-known comet is the Halley’s Comet
which was first discovered by Edmond Halley.
Halley’s Comet passes through our solar system
about every 75 years. It did so last in 1986 and is
expected to re-enter next in year 2061.
• Some of the other well-known comets include
Hale-Bopp which appeared in 1996, Hyakutake
which appeared in 1997, and McNaught which
appeared 2007.

8. About the Author:
• Amita Vadlamudi is a blogger who writes on
various subjects including science, technology
and history. Today’s article from Amita
Vadlamudi is on the topic of comets which is
an astronomical curiosity for people world
over.