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Explore the fascinating world of comets, from their icy hearts and glowing tails to the historic panics and space missions they inspired.
Stargazer in Training 0–4 · Cosmic Wanderer 5–8 · Comet Tail Tracker 9–10
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As comets orbit the Sun, they leave a trail of tiny dust particles behind them. When Earth passes through these debris trails, the particles burn up in our atmosphere, creating spectacular annual light shows like the Perseids.
Photo: ESO/ P. Horalek, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
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Comets are mostly made of frozen water mixed with dust, rocks, and frozen gases. When they get close to the Sun, this ice turns straight into gas, creating the spectacular glowing tails we see from Earth.
Photo: E. Kolmhofer, H. Raab; Johannes-Kepler-Observatory, Linz, Austria, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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The nucleus is the dark, icy heart of the comet, often measuring just a few kilometers across. The coma is actually the dusty, glowing cloud of gas that envelops the nucleus as it heats up near the Sun.
Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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A comet's tail does not trail behind it like a car's exhaust. Instead, the solar wind and radiation pressure from the Sun push the dust and gas away, meaning the tail points directly away from the Sun, even when the comet is traveling outward into deep space.
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The Bayeux Tapestry shows Halley's Comet appearing as a bad omen before the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The tapestry shows people pointing up at the star while King Harold sits on his throne. This famous comet returns to our skies roughly every 75 years.
Photo: NASA/W. Liller, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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Jupiter's massive gravity ripped Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into over twenty pieces before pulling them into its atmosphere. The resulting explosions left dark, giant scars on the gas giant that remained visible through backyard telescopes for several months.
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Comet Hale-Bopp was exceptionally bright and could be seen without binoculars even from light-polluted cities. It was discovered independently by two amateur astronomers in the United States, Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp, on the very same night.
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The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft spent years chasing Comet 67P before dropping the Philae lander onto its icy surface. Philae bounced twice before settling in a shady spot, sending back valuable data about what comets are made of.
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Sungrazing comets come within a few thousand kilometers of the Sun's surface. Many of them are completely vaporized by the intense heat and tidal forces, though space telescopes frequently spot them during their final, dramatic dives.
Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The Stardust spacecraft used a unique, gel-like substance called aerogel to catch tiny dust particles from Comet Wild 2 without damaging them. The mission revealed that comets contain complex organic molecules, which are the building blocks of life.
Photo: NASA, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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