Comets are small objects in the solar system that orbit around the sun and can be seen as a bright dot with a long tail. They are interesting for several reasons.
Since ancient times, people have observed comets in the sky. Only once every 10 years can we see a comet from Earth with the naked eye. Its impressive tail flashes across the sky for days or weeks.
In ancient times, comets were considered a curse or a sign that precedes trouble. So in 1910, when the tail of Halley's comet hit the Earth, some entrepreneurs took advantage of the situation and sold people gas masks, comet pills, and comet protection umbrellas.
The comet got its name from the Greek word for “long-haired,” as people in ancient Greece thought that comets looked like stars with flowing hair.

Comets only develop tails when they are close to the Sun. When they are far from the Sun, comets are exceptionally dark, cold, icy objects. The icy body is called the core. It makes up 90% of the comet's mass. The core is made up of various types of ice, dirt and dust. In turn, ice includes frozen water, as well as impurities of various gases, such as ammonia, carbon, methane, etc. And in the center there is a small core of stone.

As it approaches the Sun, the ice begins to heat up and evaporate, releasing gases and dust particles that form a cloud or atmosphere around the comet, called a coma. As the comet continues to move closer to the Sun, the dust particles and other debris in the coma begin to be blown away by the pressure of sunlight from the Sun. This process forms the dust tail.

If the tail is bright enough, then we can see it from Earth when sunlight reflects off dust particles. As a rule, comets also have a second tail. It's called an ion or gas, and it's formed when the core ices are heated and turn directly into gases without going through a liquid stage—a process called sublimation. The residual gas is visible due to the glow caused by solar radiation.


After comets begin to move in the opposite direction from the Sun, their activity decreases, and tails and coma disappear. They turn into a simple ice core again. And when the orbits of comets return them to the Sun again, the head and tails of the comet begin to form again.
Comets have a wide range of sizes. The smallest comets can have a nucleus size up to 16 kilometers. The largest core was observed about 40 kilometers in diameter. Dust and ion tails can be huge. Comet Hyakutake's ion tail extends for about 580 million kilometers.


There are many versions of the formation of comets, but the most common one is that comets arose from the remains of substances during the formation of the solar system.
Some scientists believe that it was comets that brought water and organic matter to Earth, which became the source of the origin of life.
A meteor shower can be observed when the Earth's orbit crosses the trail of debris left by the comet behind it.


It is not known how many comets exist, as most have never been seen. But there is a cluster of comets called the Kuiper Belt, located 480 million kilometers from Pluto. There is another such cluster that surrounds the solar system called the Oort Cloud - it can simultaneously contain more than a trillion comets that move in different directions. As of 2010, astronomers have discovered about 4,000 comets in our solar system.


To a greater extent, seeing a comet is a miracle that many dream of seeing at least once in a lifetime. But in exceptionally rare cases, comets can cause problems on Earth. Most scientists believe that a very large asteroid or comet may have hit Earth about 65 million years ago. As a result, the resulting changes on Earth led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Very large asteroids, as well as very large comets, could cause severe damage if they reached Earth. However, scientists believe that major impacts like those that killed the dinosaurs occur once every few hundred million years.


Comets can change their direction of flight for several reasons. If they pass close enough to a planet, dragging that planet's gravity might change the comet's path slightly. Jupiter, the largest planet, is the most suitable planet to change the path of a comet. Telescopes and spacecraft have captured images of at least one comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9, that crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere. In addition, sometimes comets moving towards the Sun, fall directly into it.

Over millions of years, most comets gravitationally escape the solar system or lose their ice and disintegrate as they travel.

Artyom Newbie,
Researcher at the Observatory of Petrozavodsk State University,
discoverer of two comets and dozens of asteroids
"Trinity option" No. 21 (165), October 21, 2014

1. Comets are one of the varieties of small bodies in the solar system. They owe their name to the characteristic tails that "blossom" near the Sun. In Greek, κομήτης means "hairy", "having long hair". Even the astronomical symbol for a comet (☄) has the form of a disk from which three lines extend like hair.
2. The periods of revolution of comets around the Sun are in a wide range - from several years to several million years. Based on this, comets are divided into short- and long-period comets. The orbits of the latter are highly elongated, the minimum possible distance of a comet from the Sun can practically coincide with the surface of the star, and the maximum can amount to tens of thousands of astronomical units.
3. The main part of a comet is the nucleus. The size of the nuclei is relatively small - up to several tens of kilometers. The cores consist of a loose mixture of rocks, dust and fusible substances (frozen H 2 O, CO 2, CO, NH 3, etc.). Comet nuclei are very dark - reflecting only a few percent of the light falling on them.
4. When a comet approaches the Sun, the surface temperature of its core rises, causing ices of various compositions to sublime. The coma (atmosphere) of the comet is formed, which, together with the nucleus, makes up the head of the comet. The size of a coma can reach several million kilometers.
5. When approaching the Sun, the comet also forms a tail, consisting of coma particles moving away from the nucleus. Tails are of two types: ionic (gas), due to the action of the solar wind, is always directed in the opposite direction from the Sun, and dusty, "creeping" along the comet's orbit with relatively small deviations. A comet's tail can be hundreds of millions of kilometers long.
6. As a result of cometary activity, a fair amount of small celestial bodies - meteor particles - remain in the comet's orbit. If the comet's orbit is close enough to the Earth's orbit, then a meteor shower can be observed - many meteors ("shooting stars") visible in a short period of time. During heavy meteor showers, thousands of meteors can be observed per hour.
7. Since comets are constantly losing matter, they cannot exist in the active phase for a long time and eventually break up into fragments, completely turn into interplanetary dust, or, having lost their supply of near-surface fusible substances, become inert asteroid-like objects.
8. Every year, dozens of comets are discovered that come to us from the outskirts of the solar system. Consequently, there (at distances up to 50-100 thousand AU) there is a large reservoir of cometary nuclei - the Oort cloud. It cannot be observed directly, but comets provide strong evidence of its existence.
9. In the Middle Ages, comets caused fear in people, were considered harbingers of tragic events in the life of peoples (wars, epidemics) and royalty. And even the appearance of the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997 is infamous for the mass suicides of members of the Heaven's Gate sect.
10. Very bright comets appear infrequently. But they are certainly among the most beautiful and impressive objects in the sky. Suffice it to mention, for example, the Big Comet of 1861, C / 1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), which was easy to observe even in cities in the spring of 1997, or comet C / 2006 P1 (McNaught), which was observed in January 2007, including in daytime hours, and at dusk showing a huge fan-shaped tail.

These heavenly guests have been considered omens from above for centuries. Then they were reduced to the status of a dirty snowball. Now they have become one of the most amazing mysteries of nature. In mid-September, a point was appointed where humanity can get an answer to the question of what comets are. The question is surprisingly practical.

On September 15, at a press conference in Paris, it was announced that a team of scientists had chosen a landing site for the Philae science module, which is to land on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Philae module will undock from the Rosetta interplanetary station and land on November 11 of this year at the conditional point J. The Philae device will attach to the surface of the comet with a special harpoon-anchor, drill and observe how the comet begins to heat up and melt as it approaches the Sun.

comet horrors

Comets are the most mysterious celestial bodies in the solar system. They struck the imagination of earthlings. They saw signs from above, however, they were not always successfully interpreted. The story of Pope Calixte III, the famous Alfonso di Borgia, who, wanting to support the Christ-loving army of the Kingdom of Hungary, who opposed the Turks, has long been circulating in manuscripts and books, declared the comet that appeared in heaven a “sign from above”, which has the shape of a cross. The Turks, however, saw that the tail of the comet was more like a scimitar, and announced that it was the Almighty who promised victory to them. Nevertheless, the pope's message reached the Hungarian army and inspired it. The Turks near Belgrade were defeated.

The end of mysticism was put in the 18th century by Edmund Halley. In 1716, he predicted that the same comet that everyone had seen in 1682 would come in 1758. The great astronomer did not live to see his triumph, but grateful descendants named the comet after him.

By the 20th century, no one believed in ominous signs, but they began to believe in science and pseudo-scientific conjectures. With the advent of spectrography, scientists began to study what glows in comets, and they were simply shocked, as, indeed, was the general public. In 1910, during the next passage of Halley's comet, molecules of HCN, hydrocyanic acid, the salt of which (potassium cyanide) has long been a symbol of deadly poison, were found in its tail. The enlightened world was seized with panic, but nothing terrible happened.

For a long time it was believed that comets are the remains of an ancient substance that was not disassembled into planets and satellites, from which our solar system was formed. It was believed that the basis of the comet is gases and water frozen to a solid state, mixed with dust and small stones. While the comet flies away from the Sun, it looks like an asteroid, but as it approaches the star, the frozen substance takes on a gaseous form, carrying dust with it.

Thus, a kind of halo or coma forms around the nucleus of a comet, which is clearly visible in the light of the Sun. The coma is much larger than the core and can be millions of kilometers across. The pressure of sunlight blows away molecules of gases and microscopic dust, forming comet tails. The tails of comets are extremely sparse - scientists compare this with one thimble of matter scattered over all of Moscow - such is their density. Since the chemical composition of comets is quite diverse, different molecules and dust grains are deflected differently by solar radiation, so comets have a separate dust tail, a separate gas tail, and the gas tail itself can have a completely different appearance.

Comet Ikeya-Zang has a beautiful large coma and a straight gas and dust tail

It was assumed that comets could contain huge volumes of water. In particular, according to one of the hypotheses, the earth's oceans are the water of comets that fell to the Earth at the dawn of its existence. The composition of solid particles was assumed to be close to that of stony meteorites. However, when the comet Ikeya-Seki, discovered on September 18, 1965, began to approach the Sun, the scientific world came into a slight shock - the comet turned out to be not only exceptionally bright, but also unusually warm. When its core began to actively collapse from proximity to the Sun, spectrometers showed the presence in its composition of such metals as iron and nickel. To clarify the details, you will have to wait - the comet Ikeya - Seki will return to the Sun only after 1400 years.

Their short life

All comets can be divided into two groups: short-period and long-period. Short-period ones return to the Sun every 200 years or more - Comet Encke rushes to meet him every 3 years, for example. Comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko - every 6 years, a little more. Halley's comet - every 76 years.

But long-period comets can have an orbital period of tens of thousands of years. All comets can change it if they fly past massive celestial bodies during their journey. For example, comet Hyakutake in 1996 had an estimated orbital period of 17,000 years, but the gravity of the outer planets changed its orbit, and now it will return to us no earlier than 70,000 years.

The life of comets that fly to the Sun is often short by astronomical standards - tens, hundreds of thousands of years. The reason is simple - each approach of a comet to the Sun evaporates part of it, the comet is destroyed and in the end either turns into something asteroid-like, or just into a pile of stones, sand and dust, which gradually dissipate in space.

Well, they are taken from the periphery of our solar system, where they slowly float in the darkness of eternal cold. From there they are pulled out by all sorts of gravitational perturbations and collisions. But this blissful picture of the life of comets needed confirmation. And then space stations were sent to the comets.

To meet a star

It is very difficult to meet a comet in space when it is heading towards the Sun. It is there, in the black distance, their speed drops to hundreds and tens of meters per second. The closer to the Sun, the greater the speed, which exceeds 40 km / s. Otherwise, they cannot escape from our luminary, and there is only one road left - to hell.

But in the 1980s, mankind already had certain experience and knowledge. And a whole armada of scientific apparatus was waiting for Halley's comet returning to the Sun. The USSR launched two Vega probes (Venus-Halley), which were supposed to study Venus and then pass by the comet. The equipment of the European Space Agency was also installed at the Soviet stations. At the same time, ESA launched its station - Giotto, and the Japanese - probes Sakigake and Suisei.

VeGa and Giotto came closest, at 8000 km and 660 km respectively. They ended up under an avalanche of particles that caused significant damage to the stations. But they learned that the core of a bright comet is actually almost black, and only gases that escape into space on the sunny side glow. A porous, black, fragile and unpredictable world - the creators of the film "Armageddon" were based on precisely those data, trying to show us a killer comet.

Halley's Comet was seen in 1986 by the Giotto probe.

Ten years later, American scientists began to prepare for their launches. The pursuit of Halley's comet showed that the dust around the comet can kill any station, and trying to do something on a collision course, when the relative speed is 70 km / s, is simply pointless. The comet must be chased. And in this pursuit, there is a chance to capture particles of cometary material.

In 1999, the Stardust expedition was sent to Comet Wild 2 to collect dust samples and return them to Earth for laboratory analysis. Following the "vacuum cleaner", the Americans were preparing a probe to study the comet's density, and the Europeans began work on the Rosetta project.

The mystery of the black potatoes

The nucleus of comet Wild 2 was not chosen by chance as the target of the Stardust expedition. Astronomers are convinced that until 1974 this body quietly flew in orbit behind Jupiter, until it passed too close to the giant planet, and it threw Wild 2 to the Sun, making it a comet with a return frequency of just over 6 years. That is, Wild 2 is a very fresh comet, unlike Halley's aged comet.

They decided to catch dust particles from the nucleus of a comet with the help of silicate airgel - a substance that is called glass smoke for its lightness. The probe itself was dressed in armor made of ceramic plates. And January 2 In 2004, the Stardust station approached the comet's nucleus by 250 km. Along the way, the station took photographs of the core. What the scientists saw surpassed the creations of science fiction writers. The core turned out to be decorated with huge recesses and peaks. Such a relief has never been seen anywhere in the solar system.

Comet Wild 2 turned out to be extremely complex

Experts were even more surprised by the composition of the captured particles of the comet. Prior to this, it was believed that comets were assembled from stone material left over from the process of formation of planets and asteroids. However, dust samples showed that they were formed under the influence of extremely high temperatures, most likely near the surface of the Sun 4.5 billion years ago, that is, much later than the beginning of the formation of the solar system. Scientists wondered: how then did the comet bring together ice, frozen gases and solid particles that were born near the Sun?

Another question that interested specialists: what is the density of the comet's body? What is it - an iceberg with frozen stones or a loose snowball? This was supposed to find out the Deep Impact station, launched at the very beginning of 2005 to the comet Tempel-1. The station caught up with the comet and, approaching a short distance, dropped the Impactor probe, which on July 4, 2005 crashed into the body of the comet at a speed of more than 10 km / s.

The flash upon impact with the loose Tempel-1 surprised scientists with its brightness

A copper charge weighing about 370 kilograms gave rise to a powerful ejection of the comet's matter and a very bright flash. Scientists were slightly perplexed: the nature of the ejection showed that the comet's nucleus was extremely loose, but why then was there a brightest flash? On the other hand, if the core is crumbly, like a boiled starch potato, then how can clear boundaries of craters from numerous meteorite hits be preserved on such a body? It was impossible to find out without landing on a comet. It was then that the unhurried Rosetta appeared on the horizon.

Quieter you go - you will be Rosetta

Everything is relative in space. Stardust began its mission in 1999 and ended in 2011, looking at the Impactor impact on comet Tempel 1 in 2005. And the European Space Agency launched the Rosetta probe before the success of Deep Impact, already in 2004. And only after 10 years the station flew up to the goal.

Such a long period was due to the complexity of the task. The Europeans had no intention of bombing the comet, leaving the job to the Americans. They wanted to become a satellite of the comet, and then send a probe to its surface, which would not only take measurements, but also wait until the comet began to melt and evaporate under the rays of the Sun. That is why the station made ingenious turns around the solar system, in order to eventually reach an orbit almost identical to the orbit of the comet itself.

Already at the stage of approaching the comet, some oddities were discovered. However, comet researchers are starting to get used to them. In particular, the ultraviolet spectrograph found that the comet was unusually dark in this range, and did not observe any evidence of areas of open ice. At the same time, both hydrogen and oxygen are fixed in the developing coma of the comet.

But most of all, astronomers were surprised by the shape of the comet, reminiscent of a rubber toy duck. The general public thought that scientists had never seen such a shape, and therefore so admired. But the intrigue is that astronomers have ALREADY SEEN such an amazing shape - it looks like Halley's comet.

On the left - Halley's comet, on the right - Churyumov - Gerasimenko. Both comets have a constriction that divides them into two unequal parts.

Why did such different comets acquire such a strange general shape over time? And what are they all the same - solid or loose? Or is the body of a comet something that we have not yet seen in nature? If they threaten the Earth - how to deal with them? Can they be split, for example, by a nuclear explosion, as did the hero of Bruce Willis in Armageddon, or will they simply evaporate? Or maybe they are able to detonate, like a piece of explosives? At this stage, every joke has its share of a joke.

Perhaps this is not a threat to our planet, but just a chance for its development, a new Klondike that can change the idea of ​​finding minerals? Or is it material for terraforming Mars...

All these questions become more relevant in light of reports that NASA is embarking on a program to select asteroids for the purpose of their controlled movement. This can also apply to comets. There is not much time left to wait for the results - and they can be really sensational.

Since ancient times, people have sought to uncover the secrets that the sky is fraught with. Ever since the first telescope was created, scientists have begun, step by step, to collect grains of knowledge that are hidden in the boundless expanses of space. It's time to find out where the messengers from space came from - comets and meteorites.

What is a comet?

If we examine the meaning of the word "comet", then we come to its ancient Greek equivalent. It literally means "with long hair". Thus, the name was given in view of the structure of this Comet has a "head" and a long "tail" - a kind of "hair". The head of a comet consists of a nucleus and perinuclear substances. The loose core may contain water, as well as gases such as methane, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. The Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, discovered on October 23, 1969, has the same structure.

How the comet was previously represented

In ancient times, our ancestors were in awe of her and invented various superstitions. Even now there are those who associate the appearance of comets with something ghostly and mysterious. Such people may think that they are wanderers from another world of souls. Where did this one come from? Perhaps the whole point is that the appearance of these heavenly creatures has ever coincided with some kind of unkind incident.

However, time passed, and the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat small and large comets were changed. For example, such a scientist as Aristotle, investigating their nature, decided that it was a luminous gas. After a while, another philosopher named Seneca, who lived in Rome, suggested that comets are bodies in the sky moving in their orbits. However, it was only after the creation of the telescope that real progress in their study was made. When Newton discovered the law of gravity, things went up.

Current ideas about comets

Today, scientists have already established that comets consist of a solid core (from 1 to 20 km in thickness). What is the nucleus of a comet made of? From a mixture of frozen water and space dust. In 1986, pictures of one of the comets were taken. It became clear that its fiery tail is an ejection of a stream of gas and dust that we can observe from the earth's surface. What is the reason for this "fiery" release? If an asteroid flies very close to the Sun, then its surface heats up, which leads to the release of dust and gas. Solar energy puts pressure on the solid material that makes up the comet. As a result, a fiery tail of dust is formed. This debris and dust is part of the trail that we see in the sky when we observe the movement of comets.

What determines the shape of a comet's tail

The comet post below will help you better understand what comets are and how they work. They are different - with tails of various shapes. It's all about the natural composition of the particles that make up this or that tail. Very small particles quickly fly away from the Sun, and those that are larger, on the contrary, tend to the star. What is the reason? It turns out that the former are moving away, pushed by solar energy, while the latter are affected by the gravitational force of the Sun. As a result of these physical laws, we get comets whose tails are curved in various ways. Those tails, which are mostly composed of gases, will be directed away from the star, and corpuscular (consisting mainly of dust), on the contrary, will tend to the Sun. What can be said about the density of a comet's tail? Usually cloud tails can be measured in millions of kilometers, in some cases hundreds of millions. This means that, unlike the body of a comet, its tail consists mostly of rarefied particles, having almost no density. When an asteroid approaches the Sun, the comet's tail can split in two and become complex.

Particle speed in a comet tail

Measuring the speed of movement in the tail of a comet is not so easy, since we cannot see individual particles. However, there are cases when the velocity of matter in the tail can be determined. Sometimes gas clouds can condense there. From their movement, you can calculate the approximate speed. So, the forces moving the comet are so great that the speed can be 100 times greater than the attraction of the Sun.

How much does a comet weigh

The entire mass of comets largely depends on the weight of the comet's head, or rather, its nucleus. Supposedly, a small comet can weigh only a few tons. Whereas, according to forecasts, large asteroids can reach a weight of 1,000,000,000,000 tons.

What are meteors

Sometimes one of the comets passes through the orbit of the Earth, leaving behind a trail of debris. When our planet passes over the place where the comet was, these debris and cosmic dust left from it enter the atmosphere with great speed. This speed reaches more than 70 kilometers per second. When the fragments of the comet burn up in the atmosphere, we see a beautiful trail. This phenomenon is called meteors (or meteorites).

Age of comets

Fresh asteroids of huge size can live in space for trillions of years. However, comets, like any other, cannot exist forever. The more often they approach the Sun, the more they lose the solid and gaseous substances that make up their composition. "Young" comets can drop in weight very much until a kind of protective crust forms on their surface, which prevents further evaporation and burnout. However, the "young" comet is aging, and the nucleus is decrepit and losing its weight and size. Thus, the surface crust acquires many wrinkles, cracks and breaks. Gas flows, burning, push the body of the comet forward and forward, giving speed to this traveler.

Comet Halley

Another comet, similar in structure to the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, is an asteroid discovered. He realized that comets have long elliptical orbits along which they move with a large time interval. He compared the comets that were observed from the earth in 1531, 1607 and 1682. It turned out that it was the same comet, which moved along its trajectory through a period of time equal to approximately 75 years. In the end, she was named after the scientist himself.

Comets in the solar system

We are in the solar system. At least 1000 comets have been found not far from us. They are divided into two families, and they, in turn, are divided into classes. To classify comets, scientists take into account their characteristics: the time it takes for them to travel all the way in their orbit, as well as the period of revolution. Taking Halley's comet, mentioned earlier, as an example, it takes less than 200 years to complete one revolution around the sun. It belongs to periodic comets. However, there are those that cover the entire path in much shorter periods of time - the so-called short-period comets. We can be sure that in our solar system there are a huge number of periodic comets that orbit around our star. Such celestial bodies can move so far from the center of our system that they leave behind Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Sometimes they can get very close to the planets, because of which their orbits change. An example is Comet Encke.

Comet Information: Long Period

The trajectory of long-period comets is very different from short-period comets. They go around the Sun from all sides. For example, Heyakutake and Hale-Bopp. The latter looked very spectacular when they last approached our planet. Scientists have calculated that the next time from Earth they can be seen only after thousands of years. A lot of comets, with a long period of movement, can be found at the edge of our solar system. Back in the middle of the 20th century, a Dutch astronomer suggested the existence of a cluster of comets. After a while, the existence of a comet cloud was proved, which is known today as the "Oort Cloud" and was named after the scientist who discovered it. How many comets are in the Oort Cloud? According to some assumptions, not less than a trillion. The period of movement of some of these comets can be several light years. In this case, the comet will cover its entire path in 10,000,000 years!

Fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Reports of comets from all over the world help in their study. A very interesting and impressive vision could be observed by astronomers in 1994. More than 20 fragments left from the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter at a crazy speed (approximately 200,000 kilometers per hour). Asteroids flew into the planet's atmosphere with flashes and huge explosions. The incandescent gas influenced the formation of very large fiery spheres. The temperature to which the chemical elements warmed up was several times higher than the temperature that is recorded on the surface of the Sun. After that, telescopes could see a very high column of gas. Its height reached enormous proportions - 3200 kilometers.

Comet Biela - double comet

As we have already learned, there is plenty of evidence that comets break down over time. Because of this, they lose their brightness and beauty. We can consider only one example of such a case - Biela's comets. It was first discovered in 1772. However, subsequently it was noticed more than once again in 1815, after - in 1826 and in 1832. When it was observed in 1845, it turned out that the comet looks much larger than before. Six months later, it turned out that it was not one, but two comets that were walking next to each other. What happened? Astronomers have determined that a year ago the Biela asteroid split in two. The last time scientists recorded the appearance of this miracle comet. One part of it was much brighter than the other. She was never seen again. However, after a while, a meteor shower was more than once striking, the orbit of which exactly coincided with the orbit of Biela's comet. This case proved that comets are capable of collapsing over time.

What happens in a collision

For our planet, a meeting with these celestial bodies does not bode well. A large fragment of a comet or meteorite about 100 meters in size exploded high in the atmosphere in June 1908. As a result of this disaster, many reindeer died and two thousand kilometers of taiga were knocked down. What would happen if such a block exploded over a large city such as New York or Moscow? It would cost the lives of millions of people. And what would happen if a comet with a diameter of several kilometers hit the Earth? As mentioned above, in mid-July 1994, it was “fired upon” by debris from the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Millions of scientists watched what was happening. How would such a collision end for our planet?

Comets and the Earth - the views of scientists

Information about comets known to scientists sows fear in their hearts. Astronomers and analysts draw terrible pictures in their minds with horror - a collision with a comet. When an asteroid hits the atmosphere, it will cause destruction inside the cosmic body. It will explode with a deafening sound, and on Earth it will be possible to observe a column of meteorite fragments - dust and stones. The sky will be engulfed in a fiery red glow. There will be no vegetation left on Earth, because due to the explosion and fragments, all forests, fields and meadows will be destroyed. Due to the fact that the atmosphere will become impervious to sunlight, it will become sharply cold, and plants will not be able to perform the role of photosynthesis. Thus, the nutrition cycles of marine life will be disrupted. Being without food for a long time, many of them will die. All of the above events will affect the natural cycles. Widespread acid rain will have a detrimental effect on the ozone layer, making it impossible to breathe on our planet. What happens if a comet falls into one of the oceans? Then it can lead to devastating environmental disasters: the formation of tornadoes and tsunamis. The only difference will be that these cataclysms will be on a much larger scale than those that we could experience for ourselves over several thousand years of human history. Huge waves of hundreds or thousands of meters will sweep away everything in their path. There will be nothing left of towns and cities.

"Don't Worry"

Other scientists, on the contrary, say that there is no need to worry about such cataclysms. According to them, if the Earth comes close to a celestial asteroid, then this will only lead to sky lighting and meteor showers. Should we worry about the future of our planet? Is there any chance that we will ever be met by a flying comet?

Comet fall. Should I be afraid

Can you trust everything scientists present? Do not forget that all the information about comets recorded above is just theoretical assumptions that cannot be verified. Of course, such fantasies can sow panic in the hearts of people, but the likelihood that something like this will ever happen on Earth is negligible. Scientists who explore our solar system admire how well everything is thought out in its design. It is difficult for meteorites and comets to reach our planet because it is protected by a giant shield. The planet Jupiter, due to its size, has a huge gravity. Therefore, it often protects our Earth from asteroids and comet remnants flying by. The location of our planet leads many to believe that the whole device was thought out and designed in advance. And if this is so, and you are not a zealous atheist, then you can sleep peacefully, because the Creator will undoubtedly preserve the Earth for the purpose for which he created it.

The names of the most famous

Reports on comets from various scientists around the world constitute a huge database of information about cosmic bodies. Among the most famous, there are several. For example, comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko. In addition, in this article we could get acquainted with the comet Fumaker - Levy 9 and Halley. In addition to them, Sadulaev's comet is known not only to researchers of the sky, but also to lovers. In this article, we have tried to provide the most complete and verified information about comets, their structure and contact with other celestial bodies. However, just as it is impossible to embrace all the expanses of space, it will not be possible to describe or list all comets known at the moment. Brief information about the comets of the solar system is presented in the illustration below.

sky exploration

The knowledge of scientists, of course, does not stand still. What we know now was not known to us some 100 or even 10 years ago. We can be sure that man's tireless desire to explore the expanses of space will continue to push him to try to understand the structure of celestial bodies: meteorites, comets, asteroids, planets, stars and other more powerful objects. Now we have penetrated into such expanses of space that thinking about its immensity and unknowability plunges one into awe. Many agree that all this could not have appeared by itself and without a purpose. Such a complex structure must have an intention. However, many questions related to the structure of the cosmos remain unanswered. It seems that the more we learn, the more reason to explore further. In fact, the more information we acquire, the more we realize that we do not know our solar system, our Galaxy, and even more so the Universe. However, all this does not stop astronomers, and they continue to struggle further on the mysteries of life. Every nearby comet is of particular interest to them.

Computer program “Space Engine”

Fortunately, today not only astronomers can explore the Universe, but also ordinary people, whose curiosity encourages them to do so. Not so long ago, a program for computers “Space Engine” was released. It is supported by most modern mid-range computers. It can be downloaded and installed completely free of charge using a search on the Internet. Thanks to this program, information about comets for children will also be very interesting. It presents a model of the entire universe, including all comets and celestial bodies that are known to modern scientists today. To find a space object of interest to us, for example, a comet, you can use the oriented search built into the system. For example, you need the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. In order to find it, you must enter its serial number 67 R. If you are interested in another object, for example, Sadulaev's comet. Then you can try to enter its name in Latin or enter its special number. Thanks to this program, you can learn more about space comets.

People watching a star falling in the sky may have a question, what is a comet? This word in Greek means "long-haired". During the approach to the Sun, the asteroid begins to heat up and takes on an effective form: dust and gas begin to fly away from the surface of the comet, forming a beautiful, bright tail.

The appearance of comets

The appearance of comets is almost impossible to predict. Scientists and amateurs have been paying attention to them since ancient times. Large celestial bodies rarely fly by the Earth, and such a sight fascinates and frightens. In history there is information about such bright bodies that sparkle through the clouds, eclipsing even the moon with their glow. It was with the advent of the first such body (in 1577) that the study of the motion of comets began. The first scientists were able to discover dozens of different asteroids: their approach to the orbit of Jupiter begins with the glow of the tail, and the closer the body is to our planet, the brighter it burns.

It is known that comets are such bodies that move along certain trajectories. Usually it has an elongated shape, and is characterized by its position relative to the Sun.

The comet's orbit may be the most unusual. From time to time some of them return to the Sun. Scientists say that such comets are periodic: they fly near the planets after a certain period of time.

Comets

Since ancient times, people have called any luminous body a star, and those behind which trailed tails have been called comets. Later, astronomers discovered that comets are huge solid bodies, representing large ice fragments mixed with dust and stones. They come from distant space and can either fly past or revolve around the Sun, periodically appearing in our sky. Such comets are known to move in elliptical orbits of various sizes: some return once every twenty years, and some appear once every hundreds of years.

periodic comets

Scientists know a lot of information about periodic type comets. Orbits and return times are calculated for them. The appearance of such bodies is not unexpected. Among them are short-term and long-term.

Short-period comets are those that can be seen in the sky several times in a lifetime. Others may not appear in the sky for centuries. One of the most famous short-period comets is Halley's Comet. It appears near the Earth once every 76 years. The length of the tail of this giant reaches several million kilometers. It flies so far from us that it seems like a stripe in the sky. Her last visit was recorded in 1986.

comet fall

Scientists know many cases of asteroids falling on planets, and not only on Earth. In 1992, the giant Shoemaker-Levy came very close to Jupiter and was torn to pieces by its gravity. The fragments stretched into a chain, and then moved away from the planet's orbit. Two years later, the chain of asteroids returned to Jupiter and fell on it.

According to some scientists, if an asteroid flies in the center of the solar system, then it will live for many thousands of years until it evaporates, flying once again near the Sun.

Comet, asteroid, meteorite

Scientists have identified the difference in the value of asteroids, comets, meteorites. Ordinary people call by these names any bodies seen in the sky and having tails, but this is not correct. From a scientific point of view, asteroids are huge boulders floating in space in certain orbits.

Comets are similar to asteroids, but they have more ice and other elements. When approaching close to the Sun, comets develop a tail.

Meteorites are small rocks and other space debris smaller than a kilogram in size. They are usually seen in the atmosphere as shooting stars.

Famous comets

Comet Hale-Bopp was the brightest comet of the twentieth century. It was discovered in 1995, and two years later it became visible in the sky with the naked eye. It could be observed in the sky for more than a year. It is much longer than the radiance of other bodies.

Comet ISON was discovered in 2012. According to forecasts, it was supposed to become the brightest, but, approaching the Sun, it could not meet the expectations of astronomers. However, it was dubbed the "comet of the century" in the media.

The most famous is Halley's comet. She played an important role in the history of astronomy, including helping to derive the law of gravity. The first scientist to describe the heavenly bodies was Gallileo. His information was processed more than once, changes were made, new facts were added. Once Halley drew attention to a very unusual pattern of the appearance of three celestial bodies with an interval of 76 years and moving almost on the same trajectory. He concluded that these were not three different bodies, but one. Later, Newton used his calculations to build a theory of gravity, which was called the theory of universal gravitation. Halley's comet was last seen in the sky in 1986, and its next appearance will be in 2061.

In 2006, Robert McNaught discovered the celestial body of the same name. According to assumptions, it should not have glowed brightly, however, as it approached the Sun, the comet began to quickly gain brightness. A year later, it began to glow brighter than Venus. Flying near the Earth, the celestial body made a real spectacle for earthlings: its tail curved in the sky.