Comets Composition (what Location of Comets Distance from Sun Number Parts of a Comet they’re made of) (miles) Water ice, dry ice, in the Oort From 5,000,000,000 Over Nucleus – The “dirty ammonia ice, dirt, and Cloud. (Oort Cloud (outside the orbit of 1,000,000,000,000 snowball.” – rocks. named after Jan Oort Neptune) to Coma Dense cloud of Sometimes called who proposed its 6,000,000,000,000 vaporized ices and dirt snowballs” or existence [hasn’t been (one light year) that surrounds Nucleus. “icy – mudballs.” confirmed].) Tail Gases and other particles blown off the comet by the Solar Wind (particles from the Sun). Always points away from the Sun. – (Note Some comets can be seen without a telescope; a telescope is needed to see most comets.)
Comets Composition (what they’re made of) Location of Comets Distance from Sun (miles) Number Parts of a Comet Water ice, dry ice, ammonia ice, dirt, and rocks. Sometimes called snowballs” or “icy mudballs.” in the Oort Cloud. (Oort Cloud named after Jan Oort who proposed its existence [hasn’t been confirmed].) From 5,000,000,000 (outside the orbit of Neptune) to 6,000,000,000,000 (one light year) Over 1,000,000,000,000 Nucleus – The “dirty snowball.” Coma – Dense cloud of vaporized ices and dirt that surrounds Nucleus. Tail – Gases and other particles blown off the comet by the Solar Wind (particles from the Sun). Always points away from the Sun. (Note – Some comets can be seen without a telescope; a telescope is needed to see most comets.)
SolarSystemDataSheet.docx