1. Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen rock and dust that orbit the Sun. When frozen, they are the
size of a small town. When a comet's orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a
giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a
that stretches away from the
for millions of miles.
2. How long does it take the Comet Swift-Tuttle to orbit the Sun?
3. Halley's comet takes about
years to orbit the Sun. The next time Earth will be able to see it will be in
the year
Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system its nucleus sprays ice and rock into
space. This debris stream results in two weak meteor showers each year, the Eta Aquarids in May and the Orionids in
October.