What is a comet made of?

Answer 1

Comets are basically dusty snowballs which orbit the sun. They are made of ices, such as water, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane, mixed with dust. These materials came from the time when the solar system was formed. Comets have an icy center (nucleus) surrounded by a large cloud of gas and dust (called the coma). The coma is created as the ice in the nucleus is warmed by the sun and vaporizes. Comets can develop 2 tails as they travel closer to the sun, a straight gas tail and a curved dust tail. The gas tail is created by the solar wind, whose magnetic fields pull the gas away from the comet's coma. The dust in the coma is not affected by magnetic fields but is vaporized by the sun's heat, and forms a curved tail which follows the comet's orbit.

Answer 2

The "typical" comet is a small, oblong chunk of ice, about 5-10 miles across, on the average; this chunk is called the comet's "nucleus." In addition to water ice, the nucleus may contain frozen carbon dioxide ("dry" ice), carbon monoxide, methane, and other volatiles. Interspersed with all this ice are tiny grains of dust; together, this ice and dust causes the nucleus to be a "dirty snowball," an idea first put forth by astronomer Fred Whipple in 1950, and firmly verified by the spacecraft Giotto's flyby of Halley's Comet in 1986.

Answer 3

Most comets are made of ice and dust. They vary quite a bit in size.

Answer 4

Comets are dirty snowballs which orbit the sun.

Answer 5

Ice, dust, rock, gas.

Answer 6

Well in Saturns belt they are ice um.................. they vary from .6 miles to 600 miles wide?!?! does that help u any??

Answer 7

dust and ice