Comets are bodies of irregular, fragile and small forms, composed of a mixture of non-volatile grains and frozen gases. They have very elliptical orbits that take them very close to the Sun and return them to deep space, beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Comet structures are distinct and very dynamic, but they all have a different cloud of material surrounding them, which expands in size and brightness as the comet approaches the Sun. In general, a small bright nucleus is visible (less than 10 kilometers in diameter) in the center of the hair. The hair and the nucleus together constitute the head of the comet.
What is a kite?
they are the celestial bodies constituted by ice, dust and rocks that orbit around the Sun following different elliptical, parabolic or hyperbolic trajectories. Comets, along with asteroids, planets and satellites, are part of the solar system. Most of these celestial bodies describe elliptical orbits of great eccentricity, which produces an approach to the Sun with a considerable period. A difference of asteroids, comets, solid bodies composed of materials that sublimate in the vicinity of the Sun. At a great distance (5 to 10 AU), a comma flare or hair, which is formed by gas and dust. As the comet approaches the Sun, the solar wind whips the coma and generates the characteristic tail, which is formed by the dust and gas of the ionized coma.
It was after the invention of the telescope that astronomers began to study comets in more detail, noting then that most have periodic appearances. Edmund Halley was the first to realize this and predicted in 1705 the appearance of Comet Halley in 1758, for which he calculated that he had a period of 76 years, although he had a prior evaluation of his prediction. Due to its small size and very long orbit, it is only possible to see the comets when they are close to the Sun and for a short time.
Comets are usually discovered visually or photographically using wide-field telescopes or other means of optical magnification, such as binoculars. However, even without access to optical equipment, it is possible to discover a solar network online if you have a computer and an Internet connection. The periodic orbits have the shape of very eccentric ellipses.
The comets have diameters of a few tens of kilometers and are composed of water, dry ice, ammonia, methane, iron, magnesium, sodium and silicates. Due to the low temperatures of the places where they are, these things are frozen. Some things point to the fact that the materials that make up the comets are the organic matter and determinants for life, which would lead to the next formation of the impacting planets against the earth and the dietary origin of living beings.
Comets can be classified in many ways, according to their size, age or orbit. Basically we can say that there are three types of comets:
- Comets of the family of Jupiter (FJ), of short period, whose orbits have orbital periods less than 20 years as well as small orbital inclinations.
- Halley type (HT) kites with periods between 20 and 200 years, would be of average period.
- And long period (LP) comets with periods of more than 200 years. These last comets come from the Oort cloud, the first two from the Transneptunian belt.
Another complementary classification that is used as a statistic of sizes is the following:
Kite type Diameter (km.)
- Dwarf Comet: 0 - 1.5 Km.
- Small Kite: 1,5 - 3 Km.
- Medium Kite: 3-6 Km.
- Big Comet: 6-10 Km.
- Giant Kite: 10-50 km
- Comet "Goliath":> 50 Km.
http://solarviews.com/span/comet.htm