The Comets and their Origin By Raymond Lyttleton
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The Comets and their Origin
By: Raymond Lyttleton
Introduction
Comets are small solar system body and are usually icy-like and when they pass close to the sun, heats up and consequently produces some gas. The gas produced displays a visible atmosphere and other visible are the tails and the coma of the body. The major cause of such phenomenon is the presence and reactivity of the solar radiation and the solar wind which interacts and reacts with the nucleus of the comets. The components that make the comets are dust particles, ice and small rocky particles, and these are the particles that constitute the tail which a major composure of the comets nucleus. The nuclei range from few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across (Lyttleton, 2). This briefly explains the occurrences of the comets but much lies in the astronomical and geographical happenings reactions within the solar system.
Discussion
The characteristics of the comets are linked to the orbital times and the period of formation. The major parts of the comets are: coma and ail. The coma can be described as the streams of the gases, dusts that are released forming huge and extremely thin atmosphere around the comet’s body (Lyttleton, 4). On the other side of reasoning, the sun’s radiation and the solar wind exert great pressure to form the tail of the comet. The tail always point away from the sun. The coma is mainly made of water and dust, with the water making up to 90%. The water composes the volatiles that outflow from the nucleus when the comet is just about 3 to 4 astronomical units away from the sun.
Within such distances from the sun, the water particles contain in the coma is broken down, primarily through photodissociation and photoionization. Larger dusts are left along the comets path of orbit. The light’s pressure pushes away the small particles of the tail to the coma due to their light weights and mass that they posses. The order of formation is influenced by the heat, light and the gravity of the sun. These forces have participated in the formation of the shape of the comets (Lyttleton, 4-5).
The Long Period Comets
On the period of formation of the comets, there is the long period comets and the short period comets. The occurrence of the comets has been mystified in several sets of beliefs in the ancient thinking about the comets. From the definition of the comets in the English language, comets were defined as the long, tailed star that was exceptionally bright at the time it passed past the sun (Fouchard, et al, 17). The current studies have given out coherent and well explained ideologies on the occurrence of the comets. The studies suggest that the comets occur from the inner part of the solar system. This can correspondingly elucidate the manifestation of the Oort cloud, which is composite of 100 billion stars. The swarm is often seen to go around the sun and extends almost halfway to the nearest star within the region of orbit and coverage (Geiss and Balsinger, 23).
The periods when the Oort cloud happens within the perimeters of orbiting the sun gives the condition of very warm and high gravitational pull towards the sun. At such distances, the sun’s gravitational pull is a billion times stronger than the pull it exerts in the neighborhoods of the Earth. Another nature of the comets that this affects is the attachment of the comets to the solar system. The sun and its increased power and performance weakens the attachment of the comets to the solar system (Emel’yanenko, Asher and Bailey, 114).
At this particular time, the nature and activities of the solar system are bound to alterations from the normal occurrences and conditions may alter a little bit. When any slight disturbances occur within the solar system, the comets are easily shoved out of the Oort cloud. This is attributable to the high temperatures within these regions. The gravity also dopes a great role in the nudging of the comets from the Oort cloud (Fouchard, et al, 12).Very few comets are likely to reach the surface of the earth and the entire planetary systems. This will happen after a long journey of travelling from the sun to a planet. The comets will take several years in order to reach the surface of the planets, and these are the long period comets (Carusi and Giovanni, 13). Such comets are later thrown into planetary space where they meet the sun or the planets to strike intensive light.
The Periodic Comets
The formation of the orbits may take periods lesser than 200 years, and these are the periodic comets. These normally occur in the elliptic plane and orbits toward the same direction as the planets. The orbits of these comets take them to regions outside the planets; this is the region past Jupiter and even further beyond (Emel’yanenko, Asher and Bailey, 118). For instance, there are families of comets orbiting in the aphelion and the possibility of the comets falling without getting interrupted by any object within the solar system is minimal and absolutely not possible at times when the orbit paths are regular. That is, they keep moving along the outer paths of the planets and thereby not collide with them (Fouchard, et al, 12).
In these cluster, there is the reservoir of the comets referred to as the Kuiper Belt, which is flat and disc like in shape and all the comets in the swarm orbit just outside or beyond the Neptune. The researches on the history and the originality of comets have led to the identification of more than 4 hundred of bodies such like the Kuiper Belt (Geiss and Balsinger, 24). They have been discovered to be just slightly a kilometer across orbiting the region. The evolution of the Kuiper Belt that is the body of comets is triggered by mutual collisions within themselves. The nearest giant planet also plays a critical role in the evolution. The giant planet produces perturbation effect on the body of comets. It is possible to think that the reservoir at which the planet had formed and the remnant the plate (Carusi and Giovanni, 15).
Recent Research on Comets
The recently observed comet was at first unobservable and was fainter than usual. This was due to the reduced brightness of the coma part of the comet. The brightness is noticed to be determined by the diameter and the wavelengths. This was the ISON comet. The reduction in brightness was linked to the disintegration of the comet when it passes near the sun due to the high temperatures while the molecules were believed to be weakly bonded as the corrosion intensified. It at times went unseen and invisible and this was linked to the loose of the nucleus and then it disintegrated into debris as the astronomers described it. Even at the closet point of the earth to the sun, the perihelion, the comet could not be seen with naked eyes (Byrd, par 3, 5,6, & 7).
Conclusion
The formation of comets has been linked to a number of theories, but the recent researches and discoveries that astronomers have revealed. Comets are moving star-like, bright small icy and rocky object in the solar systems which occur due to the reactivity of the sun’s radiation and gravity. There are two major ways of formation of comets. That is the longer period comets and shorter period comets. The long period comets occur after a period of over 200 years; while the periodic comets occur within periods less than 200 years. The occurrences of the comets explain the nature and periods of their occurrences. The history of comets originates from the ancient, billions of years ago.
Works Cited:
Byrd, Deborah, Have we seen the last of Comet ISON?: Earth Sky, 2013, Dec 6th. Retrieved from: http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-diving-comet-ison-might-be-spectacular-in-2013
Carusi, Andrea, and Giovanni, Valsecchi. Dynamics of Comets: Their Origin and Evolution$ : Proceedings of the 83rd Colloquium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Rome, Italy, 11-15 June 1984. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, 1985. Print.
Emel’yanenko, V., D. Asher and Bailey. “A Model for the Common Origin Of Jupiter Family And Halley Type Comets.” Earth, Moon & Planets 110.1/2 (2013): 105-130. Academic Search Premier.
Fouchard, M., et al. “Planetary Perturbations For Oort Cloud Comets: II. Implications For The Origin Of Observable Comets.” Icarus (2014): 110. Academic OneFile.
Geiss, Johannes, and H. Balsinger. Origin And Early Evolution Of Comet Nuclei : Workshop Honouring Johannes Geiss On The Occasion Of His 80Th Birthday. Dordrecht: Springer, 2008.
Lyttleton, Raymond. Comets and Their Origin. S.l.: Cambridge Univ Press, 2013. Print. Retrieved from: HYPERLINK “http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=CTeXm8PKpGoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Comets+and+their+origin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_BtIU6LHJ-Xg4QTwiYDwCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Comets%20and%20their%20origin&f=false” http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=CTeXm8PKpGoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Comets+and+their+origin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_BtIU6LHJ-Xg4QTwiYDwCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Comets%20and%20their%20origin&f=false
