So, let's talk about comets. You may be wondering what are they anyway? Well you're in the right place, because this article is all about comets!

Comets are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system composed of dust, rock, and ices. They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide, but as they orbit closer to the Sun, they heat up and spew gasses and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet. 

Comets are made of ice and rock. The ice is mostly water, with small amounts of gasses. The Nucleus, also known as the Center of a comet, is made of a mix of ice and rock dust. The ice and dust mix is covered in a thin layer of dark dust. Because of this, people call them dirty snowballs. Did you know that a comet's texture can change depending on where it is? For example when a comet is far away from the sun it has a cold, dusty surface. When it comes closer to the sun it becomes warmer and releases gas and dust.

You may not know that comets are actually much more important than some everyday boulder  that you’d find on earth. They are so important that some of them actually have names. Let me tell you a few. Comet Arend-Ronald , Biela’s comet, Chiron, Encke’s comet, and so many more.

Comets are usually about the same size of a small town and they heat up and spew dusts and gasses into a giant glowing head larger than most planets

Comets actually have two tails, a gas tail and an ion tail, as of 2019 there are 6,619 known comets, in the oort cloud there are around 1 trillion estimated comets, and lastly the most famous Halley comet is visible every 75-76 years. 

Since there are so many comets and asteroids floating around in our solar system, sometimes they clash into one another, small pieces break off, creating meteoroids! 

What is a Meteorite?

Most meteoroids absorb into the atmosphere before reaching earth’s surface, but once in a while, they don’t completely absorb and they land on earth, this is called a meteorite. Meteorites are great for science as they help scientists learn more about space. Scientists have found more than 50 000 meteorites on earth, which have helped greaten our understanding about our universe.  

What are meteors and meteor showers?

 First let's talk about what a meteor is. Meteors start as meteoroids and when they burn up and enter our atmosphere they become meteors. A meteor is a small body of matter almost like a rock from outer space. Meteors mainly consist of iron-nickel metal. Did you know that there are several types of meteors? There are 3 main types, their names are irons, stonys and stony-irons. Sometimes you can find fossilized ice in a meteor! Now let's talk about what a meteor shower is. Have you ever seen a bright streak fly past your window at night? No? Well, I haven’t either, because they are pretty rare. Across the whole globe, only about 30 showers happen a year, and they usually happen while you are asleep, so it is super rare to see one. If you have seen one, you're a lucky duck! Meteor showers are what you see when meteors enter our atmosphere and the friction they encounter when entering our atmosphere causes them to catch on fire and that is why you see the red/white streak.

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