has definition A diffuse body of gas and solid particles (such as CN, C2, NH3, and OH), which orbits the Sun. The orbit is usually highly elliptical or even parabolic (average perihelion distance less than 1 AU; average aphelion distance, roughly 104 AU). Comets are unstable bodies with masses on the order of 1018 g whose average lifetime is about 100 perihelion passages. Periodic comets comprise only about 4% of all known comets. Comets are obviously related in some manner to meteors, but no meteorites from a comet have ever been recovered. Observations of comets Bennett and Kohoutek have established that a comet is surrounded by a vast hydrogen halo. | |