Comet"s Tail

Seems to me comets tails can tell us a lot about our solar system. We
know the EM energy of the sun can move these tails. The tails must have
the density of a vapor,such as steam. Much of this vapor has to be lost
to space. The solid body of the comet could be dry ice,and ammonia
continually giving added vapor to the tail. Seems the faster the comet
is moving the longer the tail??? What comet holds the speed record? Is
Haley the largest comet? Can the Hubble see a comet that is at a
distance as far out as Jupiter? Do comets spin? Do comets get
noticeably smaller? Bert

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message
...
Seems to me comets tails can tell us a lot about our solar system. We
know the EM energy of the sun can move these tails. The tails must have
the density of a vapor,such as steam. Much of this vapor has to be lost
to space. The solid body of the comet could be dry ice,and ammonia
continually giving added vapor to the tail. Seems the faster the comet
is moving the longer the tail???

No---the speed of the comet in its orbit has nothing to do with the length
of its tail.

What comet holds the speed record?

The speed of a comet depends entirely on its distance from the sun, which
changes constantly as it orbits. It travels fastest when closest to the sun
and more slowly the further away it gets. The comets that approach most
closely to the sun travel fastest at perihelion.

Is Haley the largest comet?

No.

Can the Hubble see a comet that is at a
distance as far out as Jupiter?

I believe so.

Do comets spin?

Apparently the motion of the nucleus can be quite erratic.

Do comets get
noticeably smaller?

Sure.

RM

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message
...
Seems to me comets tails can tell us a lot about our solar system. We
know the EM energy of the sun can move these tails. The tails must have
the density of a vapor,such as steam. Much of this vapor has to be lost
to space. The solid body of the comet could be dry ice,and ammonia
continually giving added vapor to the tail. Seems the faster the comet
is moving the longer the tail???

No---the speed of the comet in its orbit has nothing to do with the length
of its tail.

What comet holds the speed record?

The speed of a comet depends entirely on its distance from the sun, which
changes constantly as it orbits. It travels fastest when closest to the sun
and more slowly the further away it gets. The comets that approach most
closely to the sun travel fastest at perihelion.

Is Haley the largest comet?

No.

Can the Hubble see a comet that is at a
distance as far out as Jupiter?

I believe so.

Do comets spin?

Apparently the motion of the nucleus can be quite erratic.

Do comets get
noticeably smaller?

Sure.

RM

(G=EMC^2 Glazier) wrote in message ...

Bert posted:

We
know the EM energy of the sun can move these tails.


The solar wind is actually a major factor in creating and directing
the plasma tails of comets.

The tails must have
the density of a vapor,such as steam.


The density is far lower than that of steam. The tails come in two
types, plasma tails and dust tails.

The solid body of the comet could be dry ice,and ammonia
continually giving added vapor to the tail.


The solid body is mostly water ice, dust, and a few rocky fragments
(ie: a "big dirty snowball"). Dry ice may also be present.

Seems the faster the comet
is moving the longer the tail???


No, the closer the comet is to the sun the longer the tail tends to
be. Tail length also depends a bit on how much volatile material and
fine dust is present in the nucleus of the comet, as more of this will
tend to make the outer tail more substantial and thus more easily
seen.

What comet holds the speed record? Is
Haley the largest comet?


Comets which come in on nearly a direct collision course to hit the
sun probably hold the speed record (just before they vaporize). Comet
Halley (note the spelling) is not the largest comet by any means.

Can the Hubble see a comet that is at a
distance as far out as Jupiter?


It can detect some large comets well beyond the orbit of Jupiter, as
can some large Earth-based telescopes.

Do comets spin?


Most do, although the rotation rate varies widely from comet to comet.

Do comets get
noticeably smaller?


Yes, they do. Some even disintegrate completely into a fine shower of
dust and rocky fragments, while others merely go inactive after most
of their volatile material is exhausted.


David Knisely

Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org

David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert

G=EMC^2 Glazier wrote:

David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert

As a comet moves away from the sun its tail does point more or less
ahead, although it will diminish in size as the distance increases --
at perihelion, where the tail is largest, it will point nearly at a
right angle from the direction of motion. As for the last part, a
comet is like any other object orbiting the sun: its speed is too
great to allow it to fall in. Like an object dropped from a very
great height, the very long distance to perihelion makes the comet's
speed near the bottom of the sun's gravity well very high. Some
'one-shot' comets are flung out of the solar system altogether, in a
hyperbolic orbit; presumably they get a 'shove' from an encounter way
out in the Oort cloud, and fall so fast they acquire enough kinetic
energy never to come back.

--
Odysseus

(G=EMC^2 Glazier) wrote in message ...
David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert

A comet's tail almost always points directly away from the sun due to
the solar wind and radiation pressure pushing material away from the
coma. The only exception is when the comet releases some solid
material (large dust particles or small bits of rocky debris) just
after it passes through its perhelion point. At these times, the
debris trail can result in a short spike-like "anti-tail" which points
back along the comet's previous path. These anti-tails are small and
somewhat rare, as they don't tend to last all that long. As far as
the comet not "crashing into the sun", some do, but others have enough
angular momentum around the sun that they merely pass it and then go
back out along the ellipse of their orbits.

David Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org

G=EMC^2 Glazier wrote:

David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert

As a comet moves away from the sun its tail does point more or less
ahead, although it will diminish in size as the distance increases --
at perihelion, where the tail is largest, it will point nearly at a
right angle from the direction of motion. As for the last part, a
comet is like any other object orbiting the sun: its speed is too
great to allow it to fall in. Like an object dropped from a very
great height, the very long distance to perihelion makes the comet's
speed near the bottom of the sun's gravity well very high. Some
'one-shot' comets are flung out of the solar system altogether, in a
hyperbolic orbit; presumably they get a 'shove' from an encounter way
out in the Oort cloud, and fall so fast they acquire enough kinetic
energy never to come back.

--
Odysseus

(G=EMC^2 Glazier) wrote in message ...
David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert

A comet's tail almost always points directly away from the sun due to
the solar wind and radiation pressure pushing material away from the
coma. The only exception is when the comet releases some solid
material (large dust particles or small bits of rocky debris) just
after it passes through its perhelion point. At these times, the
debris trail can result in a short spike-like "anti-tail" which points
back along the comet's previous path. These anti-tails are small and
somewhat rare, as they don't tend to last all that long. As far as
the comet not "crashing into the sun", some do, but others have enough
angular momentum around the sun that they merely pass it and then go
back out along the ellipse of their orbits.

David Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org

David When the comet sling shorts around the sun is its tail in front
of the snow ball? How does it keep from aligning with the sun's center?
I can see it in time crashing into the sun. The sun's gravity being so
strong,and a comets great distance before it falls back to the sun gives
me this thought. Bert