The COMET By
Sandhya Mishra

Are you a person that has always been fascinated by space? Have you ever wondered about the mysteries it could hide? Space has always excited me. A whole vacuum filled area with things we could only dream of fully understanding. In this article I will write about one of my favourite topics. Comets. When I was around seven years old, my parents and I were sitting on a rooftop in my grandfather’s house and saw a tiny streak of light go past the dark sky. I was amazed, and when my older brother told me it was a comet. They have enthralled me ever since. Enjoy reading.

Shooting stars, scientifically known as Comets are frozen leftovers of rock in space composed of pieces of ice, rocks and dust. When they move fast, they heat up, scattering pieces of ice and dust and as they move at such a speed that their light can be seen as a tail behind the rocks. The tail’s length and colour depends upon the type of rock. These scattered rocks may be as large as towns and cities, some comets may be even larger! Sometimes when a star explodes it turns into a comet or comets and crashes if it is exposed to a gravitational field. These often orbit the sun.

Orbit: The path in which the comet moves. The orbit around the comet defines how the comet moves and also its lifespan or period. Every different comet has a different orbit, and every orbit has a different lifespan. Many orbits last upto millions of years

Orbital period: The time the comet takes to cover one orbit around the sun (or any celestial body it is encircling)

Periodic Orbits: orbits with a period of less than 200 years.

Parabolic orbit: An orbit whose overall shape is like a parabola; the orbit represents the least eccentricity for escape from an attracting body

Comet period: Defines how long a comet can last

Periodic comet: Comets with a period of less than 200 years

Non-periodic comets: Comets with no significant orbit

Long periodic comets: Comets with periods between 200 to 1000 years

Near-parabolic comets: Comets with periods over 1000 years

Are you a person that has always been fascinated by space? Have you ever wondered about the mysteries it could hide? Space has always excited me. A whole vacuum filled area with things we could only dream of fully understanding. In this article I will write about one of my favourite topics. Comets. When I was around seven years old, my parents and I were sitting on a rooftop in my grandfather’s house and saw a tiny streak of light go past the dark sky. I was amazed, and when my older brother told me it was a comet. They have enthralled me ever since. Enjoy reading.

Shooting stars, scientifically known as Comets are frozen leftovers of rock in space composed of pieces of ice, rocks and dust. When they move fast, they heat up, scattering pieces of ice and dust and as they move at such a speed that their light can be seen as a tail behind the rocks. The tail’s length and colour depends upon the type of rock. These scattered rocks may be as large as towns and cities, some comets may be even larger! Sometimes when a star explodes it turns into a comet or comets and crashes if it is exposed to a gravitational field. These often orbit the sun.