ASTR 120 Study Guide - Final Guide: Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud, Solar Wind

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: ASTR 120
• Professor: Derek Richardson

Document Summary

Icy counterparts of asteroids that form beyond the frost line. Most comets have no tails except the ones that enter the inner solar system. Comets usually remain frozen in the outer solar system(kuiper belt and oort cloud) with their nuclei being dirty snowballs and the source for the comet"s tail. Coma- the atmosphere that comes from a comet"s heated nucleus. Plasma tail- gas escaping from coma, and pushed by solar wind. Dust tail- the gas escaping from the coma that is pushed by photons. Comets eject small particles that follow the comet around its orbit and creates meteor showers when earth crosses the comet"s orbit. Meteor showers occur as they emanate from the same area of sky due to earth"s motion through space making them viewable at midnight. Short period comets come from the kuiper belt, have low inclinations, and have short orbital periods. Long period comets come from the oort cloud, have random inclinations, and high eccentricities.