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Garp Gurpal
Guest
of anyone ever seeing them,...? what are two reasons why they have never been recorded?
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If astronomers believe huge comets may orbit the sun, but there is no record
C
Crow T. Robot
Guest
Just because a comet doesn't light up the night sky doesn't mean they aren't there. There is a comet visible now - Comet Lulin - and it is one of the few to reach the inner solar system.
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starryskyn
Guest
There are thousands of records, dating from ancient China, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, on up to the present day. It was Edmund Halley who thought that repeated views 76 years apart were the same comet. His was a periodic one. Some never come back, some decay into gravel and dust to become meteor showers.
The origin of most comets is thought to be a giant hollow sphere around the Solar System, way out beyond Pluto. There might be billions of ice balls out there, dark and frozen. They are not huge then, but only a few miles across at largest. Only when a passing star disturbs this Oort Cloud that some fall toward the sun. As they heat, a cloud of gas and dust thousands of miles across forms, then a tail millions of miles long. A lot get captured by Jupiter (like Shoemaker-Levy9). Some graze the sun, like Hyakutake or Ikeya-Seki. Some could be seen in daylight, like McNaught. Some are hanging in space opposite the sun, like Lulin, right now next to Saturn and Regulus.
The origin of most comets is thought to be a giant hollow sphere around the Solar System, way out beyond Pluto. There might be billions of ice balls out there, dark and frozen. They are not huge then, but only a few miles across at largest. Only when a passing star disturbs this Oort Cloud that some fall toward the sun. As they heat, a cloud of gas and dust thousands of miles across forms, then a tail millions of miles long. A lot get captured by Jupiter (like Shoemaker-Levy9). Some graze the sun, like Hyakutake or Ikeya-Seki. Some could be seen in daylight, like McNaught. Some are hanging in space opposite the sun, like Lulin, right now next to Saturn and Regulus.
T
Tyler N
Guest
comets are seen all the time. the gilly comet was just seen a few weeks ago.
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Ken E
Guest
If comets appear from time to time there must be a source for them. Some are periodic like Halley's Comet, others are one-offs. This can be calculated from their measured orbits. Mostly the periodic comets seem to have originated somewhat futher out than Pluto, others, the non-periodic ones seem to have come from much further out.
I am not sure what you mean by "huge". A comet 20 kilometres across is huge compared to a basketball but compared to the Earth or even the Moon it is tiny.
Such small objects are invisible at the distances that they spend most of their time considering that sunlight is quite weak out past Neptune.
Small and badly lit is the reason they are invisible.
I am not sure what you mean by "huge". A comet 20 kilometres across is huge compared to a basketball but compared to the Earth or even the Moon it is tiny.
Such small objects are invisible at the distances that they spend most of their time considering that sunlight is quite weak out past Neptune.
Small and badly lit is the reason they are invisible.
K
Kyle M
Guest
comets are plastered through out history, viewed all the time!!!
Ancient civilizations viewed comets as a sign of doom.
you may have heard of Halley's Comet is visible from earth every 75 yrs
also there was one that was seen only a few weeks ago...
Ancient civilizations viewed comets as a sign of doom.
you may have heard of Halley's Comet is visible from earth every 75 yrs
also there was one that was seen only a few weeks ago...