Encyclopædia Galactica Rami T. F. Rekola Tuorlan Astronomical Society Tuorla Observatory University of Turku

Comet

A small body of ice and dust orbiting the Sun; size approximately one kilometre. A large number of comets orbit the Sun outside planetary orbits in the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt. Every year gravitational disturbances flung several tens of comets into inner Solar System, where warmth melts a tail for them. The tail is always blown away from the Sun because of solar wind.