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David's Astronomy

Comets

 

Comets are irregular chunks of ice and dust, presumed to be left over form the formation of the solar system. These chunks of ice and dust are thought to begin their journey in a region of space know as the Oort cloud well beyond the orbit of Pluto. These cosmic visitors are thought to be knocked out of their resting places in the Oort cloud by object beyond the solar system and then they proceed to begin their journey inward toward the center of the solar system

As a comet approaches the inner solar systems, temperatures, solar radiation and the solar wind all begin to increase. At first the comet will begin to warm and begin to expel gas from it's nucleus. When this happens the comet forms a coma. As the comet gets closer to the sun, the coma gets hit by increasing solar winds and so the coma is blow back behind the comet. When this happens the comet develops a tail. This is, in a nutshell, why comets look as they do when we see them in the sky.

So, with there being so many comets moving about the solar system it stands to reason that there is a comet visible at almost any night during the year (in small telescopes). Most of these comets have been discovered in the last 10 years as several automated comet searches have been developed. But too me, the idea of comet watching form night too night still gives me great pleasure. To watch a comet cross a constellation or even just a few degrees of sky over a week's time, too me, is quite an event.

While working at the observatory, I had the chance to snap a few pictures of comets. Bear in mind, these picture are taken from the city and most comets imaged are from close to the horizon so the images aren't all that great.

Internal Links

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۰ Comet Observing
 
 
 
 
 

Comet Images

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Additional Comet Information
Current Comets (Sky Hound) 
۰ British Astronomical Association (Comet Section)  ۰  About Comets (NOAO)  ۰   Comets 101 (NOVA)l


Copyright © 2006 D. Brokofsky