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The comet and its induced magnetic field form an obstacle to outward flowing solar wind particles. Because the relative orbital speed of the comet and the solar wind is supersonic, a bow shock is formed upstream of the comet in the flow direction of the solar wind. In this bow shock, large concentrations of cometary ions (called "pick-up ions ...
Aristotle considered comets as a specific form of shooting stars that can occur under a very delicate combination of physical conditions. It is not known how many comet appearances Aristotle and his contemporaries witnessed or how much quantitative observational information they had about the trajectory, motion and duration of comets. [19]
Comet orbits had been determined quite precisely, yet comets were at times recovered "off-schedule," by as much as days. Early comets could be explained by a "resisting medium"—such as "the aether", or the cumulative action of meteoroids against the front of the comet(s). [citation needed] But comets could return both early and late. Whipple ...
How did the current comet get its name? ... Their tails are formed when their orbit brings the comet close enough to the sun to start heating up. The comet then begins shedding material, leaving a ...
Ices turn to gasses and geysers of material erupt from the nucleus of the comet to form a bright head and a long wispy tail. Some comets, like Halley’s Comet, have shorter orbits that bring it ...
A comet tail and coma are visible features of a comet when they are illuminated by the Sun and may become visible from Earth when a comet passes through the inner Solar System. As a comet approaches the inner Solar System, solar radiation causes the volatile materials within the comet to vaporize and stream out of the nucleus , carrying dust ...
Comets may have been potential sources of water for early Earth, researchers said this week.. When Earth formed around 4.6 billion years ago, some water likely existed in that gas and dust ...
[66] [69] Comets may also have contributed. Though most comets are today in orbits farther away from the Sun than Neptune, computer simulations show that they were originally far more common in the inner parts of the Solar System. [59]: 130–132 As the Earth cooled, clouds formed. Rain created the oceans.