Parts of a comet
Comets are made up of ice, dust and rock, they are sometimes called ‘dirty snowballs’ of the solar system. They are made up of three main parts: a nucleus, a coma and a tail.
The nucleus is the solid centre of the comet and it’s relatively small in comparison to the size of the comet.
When a comet gets close to the Sun, its ice heats up and turns into gas and plasma, this gives it a large glowing head called a ‘coma’. As the comet zooms through space, the gases trail behind it forming a ‘tail’. There are two types of comet tails: dust and gas ion.
The coma and tail are what allow astronomers to easily differentiate comets from other space objects.
Halley’s Comet
Halley’s comet is one of the most famous comets in history. There are records showing people seeing it way back in Babylonian times. The Halley comet is a short-period comet. It can be seen with the naked eye every 75-76 years. It last appeared in 1986 so the next time it returns will be in 2061.
Halley’s comet is named after the English astronomer Edmond Halley, he was the first person to determine the time of its orbit. It is the first comet to be recognised as having a periodic orbit, this means it appears regularly in time.
