COMETS - Comets have fascinated mankind since humans first noticed the distinctive tail streaking across the night sky. We mark the date that we saw a comet that comes around only once a century (or even once in four centuries), and we remember the sight for the rest of our lives. Astronomers find comets fascinating, too. They're remarkable pieces of our universe's past, and they tell us a great deal about how the universe was formed. Almost every year, we are visited by comets from the outer reaches our solar system, like ISON or LINEAR. Comets are small members of the solar system, usually a few miles or kilometers in diameter. They have been described as "dirty snowballs" by astronomer Fred Whipple. The astronomical unit (AU) is a basic unit of distance used by astronomers. It is the average distance from the Earth to the sun and is about 93-million miles (150-million km). Comets are thought to orbit the sun in either the Oort cloud or Kuiper belt. When another star passes by the solar system, its gravity pushes the Oort cloud and/or Kuiper belt and causes comets to descend toward the sun in a highly elliptical orbit with the sun at one focus of the ellipse. Comets can have short period orbits or long period orbits. As the comet passes within six AUs of the sun, the ice begins to go directly from the solid to the gas state (sublimation) much like the way fog is formed. When the ice sublimes, the gas and dust particles flow away from the sun to form the comet's tail.

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Comets
How Comets Work

By: Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.

 

Comets have fascinated mankind since humans first noticed the distinctive tail streaking across the night sky.

We mark the date that we saw a comet that comes around only once a century (or even once in four centuries), and we remember the sight for the rest of our lives.

Astronomers find comets fascinating, too. They're remarkable pieces of our universe's past, and they tell us a great deal about how the universe was formed.

Comet Image Gallery

Almost every year, we are visited by comets from the outer reaches our solar system, like ISON or LINEAR.

In this edition of How Stuff Works, we will examine the fascinating world of comets.

We will find out what comets are, what they are made of, where they come from and how to observe them.

You can learn where to look for comets and maybe even discover one yourself.

What Is a Comet?

Comets are small members of the solar system, usually a few miles or kilometers in diameter.

They have been described as "dirty snowballs" by astronomer Fred Whipple and are thought to be made of:

o  dust

o  ice (water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide)

o  some carbon-containing (organic) materials (e.g., tar)

o  a rocky center (some comets)

Comets are thought to be made from the earliest materials of the solar system.

When the sun first formed, it blew lighter material (gases, dust) out into space.

Some of this material (mainly gas) condensed to form the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) and some remains in orbit far from the sun in two areas:

o  Oort Cloud - a sphere about 50,000 AUs from the sun; named after the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort who proposed it

o  Kuiper Belt - an area within the plane of the solar system outside the orbit of Pluto

Astronomical Unit

The astronomical unit (AU) is a basic unit of distance used by astronomers. It is the average distance from the Earth to the sun and is about 93-million miles (150-million km).

The Path of a Comet

Comets are thought to orbit the sun in either the Oort cloud or Kuiper belt.

When another star passes by the solar system, its gravity pushes the Oort cloud and/or Kuiper belt and causes comets to descend toward the sun in a highly elliptical orbit with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.

Comets can have short period orbits (less than 200 years such as Halley's comet) or long period orbits (greater than 200 years such as comet Hale-Bopp).

As the comet passes within six AUs of the sun, the ice begins to go directly from the solid to the gas state (sublimation) much like the way fog is formed. When the ice sublimes, the gas and dust particles flow away from the sun to form the comet's tail.

Parts of a Comet

As a comet approaches the sun, it warms up. During this warming, you can observe several distinct parts:

o  nucleus

o  coma

o  hydrogen envelope

o  dust tail

o  ion tail

The nucleus is the main, solid part of the comet. The nucleus is usually 1 to 10 kilometers in diameter, but can be as big as 100 kilometers. It can be composed of rock.

The coma is a halo of evaporated gas (water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide) and dust that surrounds the nucleus.

The coma is made as the comet warms up and is often 1,000 times larger than the nucleus.

It can even become as big as Jupiter or Saturn (100,000 kilometers). The coma and nucleus together form the head of the comet.

Surrounding the coma is an invisible layer of hydrogen called the hydrogen envelope; the hydrogen may come from water molecules.

It usually has an irregular shape because it is distorted by the solar wind. The hydrogen envelope gets bigger as the comet approaches the sun.

The comet's dust tail always faces away from the sun.

The tail is made of small (one micron) dust particles that have evaporated from the nucleus and are pushed away from the comet by the pressure of sunlight.

The dust tail is the easiest part of the comet to see because it reflects sunlight and because it is long, several million kilometers (several degrees of the sky).

The dust tail is often curved because the comet is moving in its orbit at the same speed that the dust is moving away, much as water curves away from the nozzle of a moving hose.

Comets often have a second tail called an ion tail (also called the plasma or gas tail). The ion tail is made of electrically charged gas molecules (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water) that are pushed away from the nucleus by the solar wind. Sometimes, the gas tail disappears and later reappears when the comet crosses a boundary where direction of the sun's magnetic field is reversed.

Comets Can Break Apart

As comets pass through the inner solar system, they can be broken into pieces by Jupiter's gravity.

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was broken into 20 pieces, each of which collided with Jupiter in one of the most spectacular examples of interplanetary impacts in recorded history.

Recently, comet LINEAR was also broken into fragments by the sun's gravity as it passed the sun.

NASA's Stardust Mission

NASA has launched a mission called Stardust to comet Wild-2 to return pieces of the comet.

The spacecraft will fly into the comet's tail and catch particles in a gel called aerogel, which is mounted on the panels of the spacecraft.

Once captured, the particles will be returned to Earth in 2006. By studying the particles, scientists hope to learn more about comets and the composition of the early solar system.

Observing Comets

Many comets are actually discovered by amateur astronomers. To look for comets, here are things to keep in mind:

Go to a place where there are few lights.

o  Learn what a comet looks like (observe as many comets as you can) and what a comet does not look like (observe other deep sky objects because they also appear as small fuzzy objects).

o  Use binoculars or a telescope (low magnification, 20-40x).

o  Look toward the east about 30 minutes before sunrise or to the west about 20 minutes after sunset because comets are often spotted by their tails.

o  Sweep the sky slowly near the horizon.

Comets will appear as small, fuzzy objects. This type of observing takes discipline, long hours and patience.

On average, comet hunters spend several hundred hours of observing time to find a new comet.

However, comets are named after their discoverers, so many people think it is worth the effort.

For a discussion of comet hunting, consult The Sky: a User's Guide by David H. Levy, who has discovered several comets including comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that hit Jupiter.

Comet FAQ

What is the most famous comet in history?

Many consider 1P/Halley to be the most famous comet in history. According to NASA, because of Halley, astronomers determined that comets make repeat trips around the sun.

What are the five parts of a comet?

A comet is made up of five parts: the nucleus, the coma, the hydrogen envelope, the ion tail, and the dust tail.

Which is the biggest comet?

According to the Royal Astronomical Society, Comet C/2006 P1, also known as McNaught, is the biggest comet that astronomers have encountered. It took the Ulysses space probe 18 days to traverse the solar wind surrounding the comet.

What does a comet do?

Comets are thought to orbit the sun in either the Oort cloud or Kuiper belt. When another star passes by the solar system, its gravity pushes the Oort cloud and/or Kuiper belt. This causes comets to descend toward the sun in a highly elliptical orbit with the sun at one focus of the ellipse.

How many comets are there?

According to NASA, there are 3,701 known comets.

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ANCIENT MAYAN ASTRONOMY - Among the Planets, Venus Held Particular Importance - The ancient Maya were avid astronomers, recording and interpreting every aspect of the sky. They believed that the will and actions of the gods could be read in the stars, moon, and planets, so they dedicated time to doing so, and many of their most important buildings were built with astronomy in mind. The sun, moon, and planets — Venus, in particular were studied by the Maya. The Maya believed that the Earth was the center of all things, fixed and immovable. The stars, moons, sun, and planets were gods; their movements were interpreted as gods traveling between the Earth, the underworld, and other celestial destinations. These gods were greatly involved in human affairs, and so their movements were watched closely. Many events in Maya life were planned to coincide with certain celestial moments. For example, a war might be delayed until the gods were in place, or a ruler might ascend to the throne of a Mayan city-state only when a certain planet was visible in the night sky. The sun was of utmost importance to the ancient Maya. The moon was nearly as important as the sun to the ancient Maya. Mayan astronomers analyzed and predicted the moon’s movements with great accuracy. As with the sun and planets, Mayan dynasties often claimed to be descended from the moon. The Maya were aware of the planets in the solar system and tracked their movements. The most important planet by far to the Maya was Venus, which they associated with war. Battles and wars would be arranged to coincide with the movements of Venus.

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Ancient Mayan Astronomy

Among the Planets, Venus Held Particular Importance

By Christopher Minster

The ancient Maya were avid astronomers, recording and interpreting every aspect of the sky.

They believed that the will and actions of the gods could be read in the stars, moon, and planets, so they dedicated time to doing so, and many of their most important buildings were built with astronomy in mind.

The sun, moon, and planets — Venus, in particular —ere studied by the Maya.

The heyday of Maya astronomy was in the 8th century CE, and Maya daykeepers published astronomical tables tracking the movements of celestial bodies on the walls of a special structure at Xultun, Guatemala in the early 9th century.

The tables are also found in the Dresden Codex, a bark-paper book written about the 15th century CE.

Although the Maya calendar was largely based on the ancient Mesoamerican calendar created at least as early as 1500 BCE, Maya calendars were corrected and maintained by specialist astronomical observers.

Archaeologist Prudence Rice has argued that the Maya even structured their governments based in part on the requirements of tracking astronomy.

The Maya and the Sky

The Maya believed that the Earth was the center of all things, fixed and immovable.

The stars, moons, sun, and planets were gods; their movements were interpreted as gods traveling between the Earth, the underworld, and other celestial destinations.

These gods were greatly involved in human affairs, and so their movements were watched closely. Many events in Maya life were planned to coincide with certain celestial moments.

For example, a war might be delayed until the gods were in place, or a ruler might ascend to the throne of a Mayan city-state only when a certain planet was visible in the night sky.

Sun God Kinich Ahau

The sun was of utmost importance to the ancient Maya.

The Mayan sun god was Kinich Ahau. He was one of the more powerful gods of the Mayan pantheon, considered an aspect of Itzamna, one of the Mayan creator gods.

Kinich Ahau would shine in the sky all day before transforming himself into a jaguar at night to pass through Xibalba, the Mayan underworld.

In a story in the Quiche Maya council book called the Popol Vuh, the hero twins Hunaphu and Xbalanque transform themselves into the sun and the moon.

Some Mayan dynasties claimed to be descended from the sun.

The Maya were expert at predicting solar phenomena such as eclipses, solstices, and equinoxes, as well as determining when the sun reached its apex.

The Moon in Maya Mythology

The moon was nearly as important as the sun to the ancient Maya.

Mayan astronomers analyzed and predicted the moon’s movements with great accuracy.

As with the sun and planets, Mayan dynasties often claimed to be descended from the moon.

Mayan mythology generally associated the moon with a maiden, an old woman, and/or a rabbit.

The primary Maya moon goddess was Ix Chel, a powerful goddess who battled with the sun and made him descend into the underworld every night.

Although she was a fearsome goddess, she was also the patroness of childbirth and fertility.

Ix Ch’up was another moon goddess described in some of the codices; she was young and beautiful and may have been Ix Chel in her youth or in another form.

A lunar observatory on the island of Cozumel appears to mark the occurrence of the lunar standstill, the varying movement of the moon through the skies.

Venus and the Planets

The Maya were aware of the planets in the solar system — Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter — and tracked their movements.

The most important planet by far to the Maya was Venus, which they associated with war.

Battles and wars would be arranged to coincide with the movements of Venus, and captured warriors and leaders would likewise be sacrificed according to the position of Venus in the night sky.

The Maya painstakingly recorded the movements of Venus and determined that its year, relative to Earth, not the sun, was 584 days long, closely approximating the 583.92 days that modern science has determined.

The Maya and the Stars

Like the planets, the stars move across the heavens, but unlike the planets, they stay in position relative to one another.

To the Maya, the stars were less important to their mythos than the sun, moon, Venus and other planets.

However, the stars shift seasonally and were used by Mayan astronomers to predict when the seasons would come and go, which was critical for agricultural planning.

For example, the rise of the Pleiades in the night sky occurs at about the same time that the rains come to the Mayan regions of Central America and southern Mexico.

The stars, therefore, were of more practical use than many other aspects of Mayan astronomy.

Architecture and Astronomy

Many important Mayan buildings, such as temples, pyramids, palaces, observatories, and ball courts, were laid out in accordance with astronomy.

Temples and pyramids, in particular, were designed in such a way that the sun, moon, stars, and planets would be visible from the top or through certain windows at important times of the year.

One example is the observatory at Xochicalco, which, although not considered an exclusively Mayan city, certainly had Mayan influence.

The observatory is an underground chamber with a hole in the ceiling. The sun shines through this hole for most of the summer but is directly overhead on May 15 and July 29.

On these days the sun would directly illuminate an illustration of the sun on the floor, and these days were held importance for Mayan priests.

Other possible observatories have been identified at the archaeological sites of Edzna and Chichen Itza.

Mayan Astronomy and the Calendar

The Mayan calendar was linked to astronomy.

The Maya basically used two calendars: the Calendar Round and the Long Count.

The Mayan Long Count calendar was divided into different units of time that used the Haab, or solar year (365 days), as a base.

The Calendar Round consisted of two separate calendars; the first was the 365-day solar year, the second was the 260-day Tzolkin cycle.

These cycles align every 52 years.

Christopher Minster

Professor of History and Literature

Education

Ph.D., Spanish, Ohio State University

M.A., Spanish, University of Montana

B.A., Spanish, Penn State University

Introduction

Professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Equador

Specialist in Latin American literature and history with a Ph.D. in Spanish from Ohio State University

Former head writer at VIVA Travel Guides, who co-authored and edited numerous travel guidebooks

Experience

Christopher W. Minster, Ph.D., is a former ThoughtCo writer who contributed articles about Latin American history and culture for eight years. He is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Equador.

Christopher was the head writer at VIVA Travel Guides, where he co-authored and edited numerous travel books, including "VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and Galapagos Islands Guidebook," 7th Edition (2014), and ​"VIVA Travel Guides Lima, Peru," 3rd Edition (2010), as well as a collection of travel stories from different writers around the world, called "​The Viva List Latin America: 333 Places and Experiences People Love" (2007).​

A specialist in Latin American literature and history, Christopher wrote his Ph.D. dissertation about the colonial era in the Americas. He also worked as a teaching assistant for six years at Ohio State University, where he earned his Ph.D. in Spanish in 2005. Christopher served two years in the U.S. Peace Corps in Guatemala, working in rural youth development in Huehuetenango.

Education

Christopher earned his Bachelor's (B.A.) in Spanish from Penn State University and Master's (M.A.) in Spanish from the University of Montana. He received his Ph.D. in Spanish from Ohio State University.

Awards and Publications

"​VIVA Travel Guides Ecuador and Galapagos Islands Guidebook," 7th Edition (2014)

"​VIVA Travel Guides Lima, Peru," 3rd Edition (2010)

"​The Viva List Latin America: 333 Places and Experiences People Love" (2007)

ThoughtCo and Dotdash

ThoughtCo is a premier reference site focusing on expert-created education content. We are one of the top-10 information sites in the world as rated by comScore, a leading Internet measurement company. Every month, more than 13 million readers seek answers to their questions on ThoughtCo.

For more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content publishers on the Internet according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of the U.S. population monthly. Our brands collectively have won more than 20 industry awards in the last year alone, and recently Dotdash was named Publisher of the Year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.

https://www.thoughtco.com/ancient-maya-astronomy-2136314

THE REASONS FOR THE SEASONS - Our year is divided up into four seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring. Unless someone lives at the equator, each season delivers different weather patterns. Generally, it's warmer in spring and summer, and cooler in autumn and winter. Ask most people why it is cold in the winter and warm in the summer and they'll likely say that Earth must be closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter. This seems to make common sense. After all, as someone gets close to a fire, they feel more heat. So why wouldn't closeness to the Sun cause the warm summer season? While this is an interesting observation, it actually leads to the wrong conclusion. Here's why: Earth is farthest from the Sun in July each year and closest in December, so the "closeness" reason is wrong. Also, when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, winter is happening in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa. If the reason for the seasons was solely due to our proximity to the Sun, then it should be warm in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time of year. That doesn't happen. It's really the tilt that is the main reason we have seasons. But there is another factor to consider.

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The Reasons for the Seasons

If the reason for the seasons was solely due to our proximity to the Sun, then it should be warm in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time of year - that doesn't happen - it's really the tilt that is the main reason we have seasons

By John P. Millis, Ph.D

The change of seasons is one of those phenomena that people take for granted. They know it happens in most places, but don't always stop to think about why we have seasons.

The answer lies in the realm of astronomy and planetary science.

The biggest reason for the seasons is that Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbital plane.

Think of the orbital plane of the solar system as a flat plate. Most of the planets orbit around the Sun on the "surface" of the plate.

Rather than having their north and south poles point directly perpendicular to the plate, most planets have their poles at a slant. This is particularly true of Earth, whose poles are tilted 23.5 degrees.

Earth may have a tilt because of a large impact on our planet's history that likely caused the creation of our Moon.

The best theory about the formation of the Moon says that the infant Earth
and a Mars-sized body called Theia collided early in the history of the solar system.
The remnants were blasted to space and eventually coalesced to form the Moon. 

During that event, infant Earth was smacked pretty heavily by a Mars-sized impactor. That caused it to tip over on its side for a while until the system settled down.
.
Eventually, the Moon formed and Earth's tilt settled to the 23.5 degrees it is today. It means that during part of the year, half of the planet is tilted away from the Sun, while the other half is tilted toward it.

Both hemispheres still get sunlight, but one gets it more directly when it's tilted toward the Sun in summer, while the other gets it less directly during winter (when it is tilted away).

This diagram shows Earth's axial tilt and how it affects the hemispheres
that are tilted toward the Sun through different parts of the year. 

When the northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, people in that part of the world experience summer. At the same time, the southern hemisphere gets less light, so winter occurs there.

The solstices and equinoxes are used mostly in calendars to mark the beginning and end of seasons but are not themselves related to the causes of the seasons.

Seasonal Changes

Our year is divided up into four seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring. Unless someone lives at the equator, each season delivers different weather patterns.

Generally, it's warmer in spring and summer, and cooler in autumn and winter.

Ask most people why it is cold in the winter and warm in the summer and they'll likely say that Earth must be closer to the Sun in the summer and farther away in the winter.

This seems to make common sense. After all, as someone gets close to a fire, they feel more heat. So why wouldn't closeness to the Sun cause the warm summer season?

While this is an interesting observation, it actually leads to the wrong conclusion.

Here's why: Earth is farthest from the Sun in July each year and closest in December, so the "closeness" reason is wrong.

Also, when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, winter is happening in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa.

If the reason for the seasons was solely due to our proximity to the Sun, then it should be warm in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time of year.

That doesn't happen. It's really the tilt that is the main reason we have seasons. But there is another factor to consider.

All planets have an axial tilt, including the gas giants. The Uranus tilt is so severe it "rolls" around the Sun on it side.

It's Hotter at High Noon Too

Earth's tilt also means that the Sun will appear to rise and set in different parts of the sky during different times of the year.

In the summertime the Sun peaks almost directly overhead, and generally speaking will be above the horizon (i.e. there will be daylight) during more of the day.

This means that the Sun will have more time to heat the surface of the Earth in the summer, making it even warmer. In the winter, there's less time to heat the surface, and things are a bit chillier.

Observers can generally see this change of apparent sky positions quite easily.

Over the course of a year, it's fairly easy to note the position of the Sun in the sky. In the summertime, it will be higher up and rise and set at different positions than it does in the wintertime.

It's a great project for anyone to try, and all they need is a rough drawing or picture of the local horizon to the east and west.

Observers can glance out at the sunrise or sunset each day, and mark the positions of sunrise and sunset each day to get the full idea.

Back to Proximity

So, does it matter how close Earth is to the Sun? Well, yes, in a sense, it does, just not the way people expect.

Earth's orbit around the Sun is only slightly elliptical. The difference between its closest point to the Sun and the most distant is a little more than three percent.

That isn't enough to cause huge temperature swings. It translates to a difference of a few degrees Celsius on average.

The temperature difference between summer and winter is a lot more than that. So, closeness doesn't make as much of a difference as the amount of sunlight the planet receives.

That's why just simply assuming that Earth is closer during one part of the year than another is wrong. The reasons for our seasons are easy to understand with a good mental image of our planet's tilt and its orbit around the Sun.

Key Takeaways

Earth's axial tilt plays a large role in creating seasons on our planet.

The hemisphere (north or south) tilted toward the Sun receives more heat during that time.

Closeness to the Sun is NOT a reason for the seasons.

John P. Millis, Ph.D

Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Education

Ph.D., Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University

B.S., Physics, Purdue University

Introduction

Associate Professor of Physics, Anderson University

Chairman, Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Anderson University

Conducts astronomical research at the VERITAS observatory

Experience

John P. Millis, Ph.D., is a former writer for ThoughtCo, where he contributed articles on space and astronomy for three years. He has taught physics and astronomy at the college level since 2001 and is currently the chair of the Department of Physical Sciences and Engineering at Anderson University in Indiana. He teaches a wide variety of courses while maintaining an active research program in high energy astrophysics.

Dr. Millis's research focuses on pulsars, pulsar wind nebulae, and supernova remnants. Using the VERITAS gamma-ray observatory in southern Arizona, he studies the very high energy radiation from these dynamic sources to extract information about their formation and emission mechanisms. In 2010, he co-founded a small consulting business, Aurum Consulting, LLC, assisting with biological testing, chemical formulations, and product development.

Education

Dr. Millis received a Ph.D. in physics and astronomy and a B.S. in physics with a mathematics minor from Purdue University.

ThoughtCo and Dotdash

ThoughtCo is a premier reference site focusing on expert-created education content. We are one of the top-10 information sites in the world as rated by comScore, a leading Internet measurement company. Every month, more than 13 million readers seek answers to their questions on ThoughtCo.

For more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content publishers on the Internet according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of the U.S. population monthly. Our brands collectively have won more than 20 industry awards in the last year alone, and recently Dotdash was named Publisher of the Year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-causes-the-seasons-on-earth-3072536