Comets, The Dirty Snowballs of Space

For a dirty space snowball, comets are pretty awesome and frightening things. Not only are they amazing to look at, but they are potentially responsible for seeding life on our planet, and also causing extinction as well. With all that said what exactly are comets?

So in short, a comet is a giant snowball made up mostly of ice, but also can contain rock, dusts and frozen gases (Like Carbon Monoxide, Ammonia and Methane) which help to create it's trail. Though among all that they may contain organic compounds, more specifically amino acids the building blocks of life! It get's even crazier in that a study in France has shown that these amino acids might actually be able to form in space when they recreated the conditions of space in a lab and exposed a comet to similar levels of ultra violet radiation that it would receive in space!

Comet Hale Bopp seen from Earth in 1997

Comets really are truly amazing! However like stated they can be dangerous, just look at the dinosaurs and their fate! Comets have very catastrophic potential if one where to collide with the planet. That said NASA and other space agencies are constantly monitoring the skies for ones that may be in a trajectory with Earth.There has been moments however were we have had close calls, there was a comet that had passed between Earth and the Moon and we did not even see it till it was past us! Scary thought isn't it? However with our neighbours Saturn and Jupiter keeping us safe, and people keeping an eye out for them, it is unlikely we will be met with a surprise!

But wait, what about the trail? The trail of a comet is cause by the surface being heated as it approaches the sun. You'd be surprised to know that space isn't as cold as we think it is around our sun. Space around our planet for example can get up to around 205oF, so that being said the trail is the comet beginning to melt as it approaches our sun. Now the one thing to remember though is it's trail does not show the direction it is going, but rather is traveling in the direction of the solar winds. It's much like someone with long hair walking, but the wind is blowing from behind them pushing their hair in front.

Comet McNaught's trail seen from 2007 as it passed Earth

Comets are beautiful and powerful forces of nature that roam into our solar system from the dark edges of it and give us these stunning moments of beauty, but the scars on the planet leave us a reminder of it's potentially darker sides!

Keep an eye on the sky and keep an eye out for future posts!