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Teaching Unit |
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Educational Links |
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Resume |
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Teaching Unit |
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Misc. |
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About Me |
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COMETS |
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What is a comet? |
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Comets are leftovers from when the universe was first created. They are simply ice-balls that have been pushed into orbit for some reason. Short-term comets may take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun, while long-term comets may take up to 30 million years to complete one trip around the sun. |
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The picture to the left explains the three streaks of light that are evident when a comet is in orbit. The ion tail, hydrogen envelope, and dust tail are the three components which make a comet so bright while it is travelling through space. |
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This diagram shows the massive amount of comets that are present in our solar system. |
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on to meteors |
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back to asteroids |
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