Comets By Jake Haase

This is comet Halley.

This is a comet that shows the Nucleus, Coma, and both tails. 

The nucleus is made up of rock, water ice, frozen gases, methane, ammonia, and dust. The nucleus ranges from 100 meters to 40 kilometers. The nucleus is the center of the comet, so for a comet to form a nucleus must form first. The coma is formed when the the comet goes around the sun. As the comet goes around the sun the sun melts ice and dust particles forming the cloud around the comet. The coma is made up mostly of ice and dust. The coma ranges in size depending on size of comet. Comets typically have dust tails. The two dust tails form when the comet gets close to the sun. As the comet goes near the sun the heat melts part of the comet just like how it forms the coma. Instead of just staying around the nucleus, the ice and dust particles are released from the comet and fade behind it. 

As you click on this simulation/animation it shows the orbit of a comet that you customize. The animation shows what comets do as the approach and leave the sun. When the comet is closer to the sun, orbiting around the speed increases because there is a higher gravitational pull the closer it is. As the comet approaches the sun a tail and coma is formed. The tail and coma are formed from the suns intense heat. Since the comet orbits around the sun and since there is a gravitational pull the tail always faces away from the sun. As the comet starts to leave the sun it slows down and the tail and coma get smaller.

Comet Simulation

As you look at this image you can see the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper belt is a region of the solar system from the the orbit of Neptune (30 AU) to around 50 AU from the sun. The Kuiper belt consists of "extra parts" from the solar system. Everything that was used to make planets and other objects goes into the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt has asteroids that composed of frozen volatiles. The Kuiper belt also has at least three dwarf planets and multiple moons. Studies have shown that the belt is dynamically stable. Pluto is member of the Kuiper belt. The Kuiper belt has continually gained more objects over years and is going to continue to get more.

This image shows the Oort Cloud. The Oort Cloud is a hypothesized spherical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals that is around a light year from the sun. The outer edge of the Oort Cloud defines the cosmographic boundary. The Oort Cloud is thought to be divided into two separate regions: a spherical outer and a disc shaped inner core. The Oort Cloud (at least a little bit) is the product of the sun and its sisters stars exchanging material then drifting away.

Here is an Image of Pluto. Pluto resembles a comet. Pluto resembles a comet for a lot of reasons. One resemblance between Pluto and a Comet is that Pluto is in the Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt has at least two other dwarf planets, but mostly has a ton of comets. Pluto is also like a comet because of the path they take. Pluto does not take the normal path of planets but has a different angle from the sun, like comets.