Science and Technology

What is a comet?

Link to this answer

CloseClose

Link to this answer

Share this credible answer with others. Simply paste this code into your blog or Web page:

<a href="http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/comet-84150.html" >What is a comet?</a>
E-mail this answer Link to this answer

... comet [Gr.,=longhaired], a small celestial body consisting mostly of dust and gases that moves in an elongated elliptical or nearly parabolic orbit around the sun. Comets visible from the earth can be seen for periods ranging from a few days to several months.

Answer verified with
Get more facts and information about comet . Or, view the full encyclopedia entry from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.

Similar questions: How do you describe a comet? What exactly is a comet? [ Hide these questions ]

Related research questions

Related research articles

Comets give clues to solar system's infancy: New studies chronicle the breakup...
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor ...the distance to a comet in 1577, however, it put comets on the watch list...borne assault on comets is under way...encounter with comet 19P/Borrelly...European missions to comets. Beyond Deep Space...currently en route to comet 81P/Wild 2...
Comets do well at two tournaments.(Neighbor)
Newspaper article from: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) ...St. Charles 14U Comets Purple team continued...game was a 5-2 Comet win over the Lyons...drove in all five Comet runs. Pitcher Jamie...through six until the Comets sparked in the last...off a four-run Comet sixth and a 4-2...of reach once the Comets pulled out to a 5...
Comets vary in size and often seen 'close' to Earth.(Neighbor)(Kids ink)
Newspaper article from: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) ...Spangenburg and Kit Moser - "Comets, Asteroids, and Meteorioids...Rau "How often does a comet pass Earth?," asks...Montessori in Grayslake. A comet is a ball of ice and...speeds through space. Comets are as old as the beginning...solar system. When a comet streaks across the sky...
COMETS INCOMING
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe ...Hyakutake. By late March, Comet Hyakutake could be brighter...the Big Dipper. "This comet looks like it's not...of past predictions of comets such as the infamous...miles away. Only four comets have come closer to Earth...reveal details of the comet's nucleus. The nucleus...
Comets: mudballs of the solar system? (infrared images reveal trails of true...
Magazine article from: Science News ...primordial recipe for making comets required about equal...different picture of what the comet nucleus could be...sculpt some of the comet's expelled gas into...idiosyncrasies about comets. Sykes and his colleagues don't dispute that a comet's nucleus contains...
See all results at HighBeam

HighBeam gives you access to newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles plus press releases, facts, information, and biographies from thousands of sources.