Longest Comet Tail Discovered Essay Example

Longest Comet Tail Discovered Essay INTRODUCTION TO COMETS The first recorded comet sighting happened in China more than 4,000 years ago.People have been terrified and fascinated by these great balls of light ever since.They appear to come out of nowhere and light up the night sky like balls of fire; this made people nervous. No one knew what to make of them. On May 1, 1996, the Ulysses spacecraft unknowingly flew through the tail of an invisible comet tail, which was subsequently discovered to be almost double the length of the longest previously known comet tail, measuring nearly 350 million miles. This close encounter between the spacecraft Ulysses and the tail of a lighting fast comet has helped scientists to identify that the longest comet tail ever discovered originated from Comet Hyakutake.According to Shanks, the tail of the Hyakutake comet extended more than 300 millions miles away from its nucleus, which is three times the distance from the earth to the sun, which labels it the longest tail ever recorded (2000). We will write a custom essay sample on Longest Comet Tail Discovered specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Longest Comet Tail Discovered specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Longest Comet Tail Discovered specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer What is a Comet? What exactly is a comet tail, some might wonder. Comets are small, icy objects that formed at the dawn of the solar system, perhaps as far back as 4.5 billion years agoâ€Å"Comets are also ‘time capsules’ because they give us a view of the past† (Wilsdon, 2000, p.14)Scientists believe comets are chunks of material left over from the formation of the planets in our outer solar system – Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – and that most comets can be found far beyond Pluto (Bonar, 1998, p. 14).Comets are often called dirty snowballs because they are made up of ice, dust, and organic molecules. As comets travel in their orbits around the sun, they can get close enough to the sun to warm up enough so that the ice begins to evaporate. This results in the trapped materials being released into space. Anatomy of a Comet As a comet nears the sun, its icy core boils off, forming a cloud of dust and gas. The front of the comet, whi