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Comets and Asteroids.




            We all know the planets in the solar system. But there are other things, such as dwarf planets, asteroids and comets. I will be explaining them in detail in this article. I will take an example and explain one comet. The Asteroid Belt and The Kuiper Belt is also mentioned here. I hope you enjoy. If you do, write a comment at the extreme end of the page.

 

            The Asteroid Belt is in between Mars and Jupiter. It contains many hundreds of asteroids. It is one of the two belts in the solar system. It is home to a dwarf planet named Ceres (pronounced ‘series’). The second belt in our solar system is known as the Kuiper Belt. It extends beyond Neptune and is home to many thousands of asteroids. It is much bigger than the Asteroid belt. A dwarf planet, Pluto, and its moon are there. It is home to many hundreds of comets.

 

            Comets are huge rocks made of dust and ice and orbit the sun just like the planets do. Their orbits are highly ovoid, and are not circles. Their inner par is solid, while their outer part is frozen gases. These objects are about the size of a small town. They originate from the Kuiper Belt. Some comets and asteroids have orbits that can cross the earth’s orbit, and when the earth was newly made, water in the form of frozen ice comets landed on the earth. This is partly what made the earth habitable.

 

            Probably the most well-known comet is Halley’s Comet. It was discovered by Edmund Halley. It is the only comet that can be seen with the naked eye constantly. It appears around every 76-80 years. It was last seen in the inner solar system in 1986. Scientists think it will be back in 2061. It originates in the Oort cloud, a huge sphere of clouds around 1 light year away from the sun. As impossible as it seems, it was first discovered in 240 BCE by the Chinese. (Wikipedia) (Space.com)

 

Sources used-

·      NASA Space Place (.gov)

·      Toppr.com

·      Wikipedia

·      Space.com

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