For this comet to increase that much in size is incredible, and we still do not know what caused the burst.
The coma is what, only 10 to 20km across. So how did it reach that massive level of size and how fast must the particles be moving to reach that size in such a short amount of time?
Did something impact
Could the gas be expanding due to a jet caused by a fracture?
Why is there no tail?
Are we looking at this comet head on - that would explain why there is no tail.
If something with a tail is coming straight at you - you would not see its tail.
What is the current proven trajectory of this object?
2007-11-20 06:09:49 · 10 answers · asked by scottanthonydavis 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Trajectory answer - thanks
Most likely something hit it pretty good.
At the time of the flare up some astronomers mentioned seeing something (a piece) separate away from the comet.
2007-11-20 06:44:03 · update #1
The coma IS the cloud of gas and dust ejected from the nucleus. The nucleus is the small solid body which is far too small to even see, maybe a few kilometers in size.
The comet doesn't have much of a tail because it is too far from the Sun to develop one. Anyway, comet tails do not trail out behind the comet as it moves, they point away from the Sun. When the comet moves away from the Sun it moves tail first. That is because the solar wind is what blows the tail away from the comet, and the solar wind is FAR faster than the orbital motion of the comet. It would be kind of like walking on a windy day with a flag. If you are walking with the wind, the flag blows out in front of you, not behind you like it would if you were running on a day with no wind.
The trajectory is an orbit with a perihelion at twice the distance from the Sun as Earth. So it never even comes inside the orbit of Mars. It is now past its perihelion and heading back out into the outer part of the solar system. The orbit has been known since 1892. The only reason it has made the news is that it suddenly brightened. It has done this before though, so I suspect it was not a collision. More than one such collision is too unlikely. It must just have an unusually large supply of volatile elements just ready to burst out at the slightest disturbance.
2007-11-20 06:36:48 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Comets are loose aggregations of mostly ices, dust, etc. When they get close to the sun, some ice melts and forms the coma (from Latin word for hair) and the tail. The coma and the tail are just gas and dust that are evaporating from the comet and being lit by the sun. Because the comet has (almost) no gravity, it does not take long for the coma and the tail to grow very large, even though they contain very little matter. Posters above are correct. The density inside the coma and the tail are even less than the best vacuum we can get in a laboratory on Earth. The Chinese called them Broom Stars.
2016-04-05 00:19:53 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The tail of a comet forms pointing away from the sun, no matter which direction the comet is heading.
Not all comets form bright visible tails anyway.
It's known that Holmes is heading outwards.
And it doesn't matter why the outgassing is happening. What does t matter if there was an impact?
2007-11-20 06:35:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You make a good point. Has the trajectory of this comet changed enough to send it our way? That could be the case if the tail truly is on the opposite side of what we see. Good observation.
2007-11-20 06:31:31 · answer #4 · answered by theCATALYST 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
way back in the dawn of time... uh... 1973... there was a comet heading for a brilliant night time display. except it didnt. Comet Kohoutek kinda fizzled, disappointing millions of teenage astronomy buffs... ok, at least one.
one theory as to why it didnt 'light up the sky' was that the surface melted as it got close to the Sun and formed a glue-like substance that inhibited the tail formation.
Perhaps with Comet Holmes, its glue was past its shelf-life.
2007-11-20 08:15:34 · answer #5 · answered by Faesson 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The 'ejecta' is spread out very thinly in space but still reflects the light of the sun well....thus its size can increase without a large amount of mass....
A cometary 'tail' is cause by solar radiation and usually doesn't appear until it comes sufficiently close to the sun.starts to grow inside the orbit of Mars or earth, and really becomes prominent much closer..
Possibilty.... it hit an asteroid ...at several miles a second large amount of energy is released.
2007-11-20 06:36:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
There's no tail because it's not near the sun - so one side of it's not being sublimated.
But the coma is all around it because it's undergone an explosion, as you you, either because something hit it, or more likely because of a gas fissure under the surface.
The particles are travelling at around 2000km/h.
Apparently, it's on the scale of the Earth throwing off its crust.
2007-11-20 07:38:15 · answer #7 · answered by Trillian 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Considering the fact that the comet is further away from us than the sun is, if it's apparant size is bigger than the sun's apparant size, the comet's coma's actual size is much bigger than the sun's actual size, so you guys who say it isn't have no idea what you're talking about.
2007-11-20 07:26:31 · answer #8 · answered by Arkalius 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
IT's apparrent size or angular size is greater than the sun, but it's actual size is not as great as that of the sun.
2007-11-20 06:40:01 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is apparent size only.
2007-11-20 06:18:51 · answer #10 · answered by Howard H 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋