Comets are small, fragile, irregularly shaped bodies composed of a mixture of non-volatile grains and frozen gases. ... Most become visible, even in telescopes, only when they get near enough to the Sun for the Sun's radiation to start subliming the volatile gases, which in turn blow away small bits of the solid material. ... Nearly 100 known comets have periods (the time it takes them to make one complete trip around the Sun) five to seven Earth years in length. ...
... Comet Animation . ... Comet structures are diverse and very dynamic, but they all develop a surrounding cloud of diffuse material, called a coma, that usually grows in size and brightness as the comet approaches the Sun. ... As comets approach the Sun they develop enormous tails of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometers from the head, away from the Sun. ... The evaporated molecules boil off and carry small solid particles with them, forming the comet's coma of gas and dust. ...
... Future seminars . P a s t seminars . ... Ejection of material from a comet after its collision with a smaller body, probabilities of collisions of migrating small bodies and dust particles with planets, and formation of small body binaries " . ... The probabilities of collisions of different small bodies (asteroids, comets, and trans-Neptunian objects) and dust particles of different sizes produced by these bodies with all planets are considered for dynamical lifetimes of bodies and particles. ...