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Comets
Te Solar System: Comets
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Coma | A cloud of dust and gases that surrounds the nucleus of a comet |
Comet | A ball of dust, ice, and gases that travels around the sun. It is much smaller than a planet |
Dust tail | This type of comet tail forms when solar wind separates dust from the coma, pushing it outward away from the Sun in a slightly curved path |
Nucleus | The center of the head of a comet: consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail |
Short period comet | A comet that orbits the Sun in less than 200 years |
Ion tail | This type of comet tail forms when solar wind separates gases from the coma, pushing them outward away from the Sun in a straight path |
Hydrogen envelope | Hydrogen gas surrounds the coma of the comet and trails along for millions of miles |