What Are Comets?

Comets are icy bodies formed from dust and ice particles far from the Sun. They originate from the Oort cloud and Kuiper Belt, categorized as long and short period comets based on their orbital duration. Comets have a nucleus and a coma, with tails formed by ionized gas and dust. As they approach the Sun, they develop tails due to solar wind and light. Over time, comets lose material and eventually disintegrate.

What is the primary source of long-period comets?

• The Kuiper Belt

• The Oort Cloud

• The Asteroid Belt

• The Solar Wind

Which of the following is a characteristic of short-period comets?

• They are visible only once in a lifetime

• They originate from the Oort Cloud

• They take more than 200 years to orbit the Sun

• They are found in the Kuiper Belt

Halley's Comet is an example of which type of comet?

• Meteor

• Asteroid

• Short-period comet

• Long-period comet

What is the nucleus of a comet?

• The tail of the comet

• The outer layer of the comet

• The center of the comet

• The cloud surrounding the comet

What causes the ionized gas tail of a comet to always point away from the Sun?

• The gravitational pull of the Sun

• The solar wind

• The comet's speed

• The Earth's magnetic field