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These comets come from the Kuiper belt and scattered disk, beyond the orbit of Pluto, with possible origins in the Oort cloud for many. For comets with an orbital period of over 1000 years (semi-major axis greater than ~100 AU), see the List of near-parabolic comets .
[a] Originally considered a planet, Pluto's status as part of the Kuiper belt caused it to be reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006. It is compositionally similar to many other objects of the Kuiper belt, and its orbital period is characteristic of a class of KBOs, known as " plutinos ," that share the same 2:3 resonance with Neptune.
Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt or its associated scattered disc, which lie beyond the orbit of Neptune. Long-period comets are thought to originate in the Oort cloud, a spherical cloud of icy bodies extending from outside the Kuiper belt to halfway to the nearest star. [2]
The Kuiper belt lies between 30 and 55 AU from the Sun, while the farther scattered disc extends to over 100 AU, [47] and the distant Oort cloud begins at about 50,000 AU. [68] Originally, however, the Kuiper belt was much denser and closer to the Sun, with an outer edge at approximately 30 AU.
The first comet to light up the night sky since the Neowise comet in 2020 is approaching Earth.. The E3 comet – also known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – is not just a once-in-a-lifetime event, it is a ...
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (abbreviated as 67P or 67P/C–G) is a Jupiter-family comet. [10] It is originally from the Kuiper belt [11] and has an orbital period of 6.45 years as of 2012, [1] a rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours, [9] and a maximum velocity of 135,000 km/h (38 km/s; 84,000 mph). [12]
The Nishimura comet now bears his name. It’s unusual for an amateur to discover a comet these days, given all the professional sky surveys by powerful ground telescopes, Chodas said, adding ...
The orbits within the Kuiper belt are relatively stable, and so very few comets are thought to originate there. The scattered disc, however, is dynamically active, and is far more likely to be the place of origin for comets. [11] Comets pass from the scattered disc into the realm of the outer planets, becoming what are known as centaurs. [43]