The Universe is full of wonders; its size is so amazing as well as the things within. The galaxies, the stars, the planets, the asteroids the comets and others are the things or bodies that can be found in the universe.
The existence of comets in the sky particularly in the night sky is an important scenario in the ancient times. When seen, the ancient people usually associated comet as a sign of fortune and has a great impact in their life; whether it is positive or negative.
Some people say that it is a falling star but actually comet is not
a star. A star is a very hot heavenly body and it is great in size; greater than the size of the planet Earth. An example of star is our very own Sun; it is a star; for classification it is called as Sun because it is the nearest star in our planet and it is the only Star in the entire Solar System.The word comet came from the Greek word “aster kometes”; in English it means “long hair star”. Actually, a comet is not a star; it is a planetary body revolving around the Sun. A Comet is made up of metal, dust particle, rock and frozen gas such as ammonia, methane and
carbon dioxide.The orbit of the Comet is extremely elliptical; with this it is sometimes close to the Sun and sometimes it is far away from it.
The shape of the comet is irregular and it has several kilometers in diameter. The tail of a comet may stretch to the length of millions of kilometers.
Comet’s tail or may appear dagger-like or curved if it is composed of dust particles that are blown from the nucleus; it may appear straight if the comet is made up of charged gases.
Comets have two kinds of tails; the Plasma tail and the Dust tail. The Plasma tail has a blue color while the dust tail has either white or yellow color. The Great comet of 1843 is considered to have the longest tail that was being recorded. Its tail stretched from the sun to a distance beyond the planet Mars.
The two kinds of Comets are the Short Period Comets and the Long Period Comets. The Short Period Comet revolves around the Sun for less than 200 years. The Long Period Comet revolves around the Sun for more than 200 years.