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Lecture 12: Comets
cambridge, lang
23
Astronomy
Undergraduate 1
10/27/2009

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Term
nature of path
Definition
any inclination to eliptic
can come from anywhere
Term
comet halley
Definition
named for man who predicted its return
Term
comet halley orbital period
Definition
76 years
Term
why comets get bright
Definition
sun's heat vaporizes them within 3-5 aproach
Term
long period comets orbital period length
Definition
orbital period longer than 30 years
Term
short period comet orbit
Definition
prograde direction
30 - years
Term
origin of long period comets
Definition
oort period cloud
Term
oort cloud location
Definition
100,000 X distance to next star
Term
how many comets in oort cloud
Definition
trillion
Term
how did comets get out in the oort cloud
Definition
formation of planets threw them out there
Term
where do short period comets come from
Definition
kuiper belt
Term
where is the kuiper belt located
Definition
within solar system
Term
where is the kuiper belt located
Definition
100 AU
outside neptune's orbit
Term
how big is a comet
Definition
10 kilometers
size of city
Term
what is a coma
Definition
spherical cloud of gas and dust size between size of earth and sun. comet nucleus vaporizes to make it
Term
hydrogen cloud
Definition
only seen in ultraviolet light
Term
comet tails
Definition
can have 2
point away from sun
short curved yellow
VS
long strain blue ion
Term
what pushes yellow tails away
Definition
radiation
Term
what pushes blue tails away
Definition
winds
Term
what spacecraft imaged comet wild 2
Definition
stardust
collected sample of organic material
Term
what are shooting stars
Definition
pebble size pieces of comets
Term
meteoroid trajectories
Definition
match comet orbits sometimes
Term
Perseids
Definition
meteor shower on 12th of august
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