Comet
A comet is a small Solar System body composed mainly of ice, dust, and organic compounds. As they approach the Sun, cometary ices sublimate, releasing gas and dust that form the glowing coma and distinctive tails—often extending millions of kilometers.
Comets originate from two primary reservoirs: the Kuiper Belt—home to short-period comets with orbits under ~200 years—and the distant Oort Cloud, which sends long-period comets with orbits spanning thousands of years. Occasionally, interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua pass through our system, appearing comet-like.
They are “dirty snowballs” and among the most primitive remnants of the early Solar System, preserving original ices and organic material from 4.6 billion years ago.
Landmark missions include ESA’s Rosetta—with its lander Philae—which orbited and sampled Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (2014–2016). NASA’s Deep Impact struck Comet Tempel 1 in 2005 to analyze interior composition.
These missions discovered complex organic molecules, including amino-acid precursors, and supported the theory that comets may have delivered water and prebiotic compounds to early Earth.
Looking ahead, ESA–JAXA’s Comet Interceptor (launch planned for 2029) intends to perform a rapid flyby of a dynamically new or interstellar comet, using multiple spacecraft to sample both nucleus and coma environments.
Comets are studied across the electromagnetic spectrum—from radio to gamma rays—using telescopes and spacecraft to understand composition, internal structure, activity, and their roles in planetary formation, the evolution of the solar system, and the origin of life.
Sources
APODs including "Comet"
The Largest Rock in the Solar System
1 January 2006
There, that faint dot in the center - that's the largest rock known in our Solar System. It is larger than every known asteroid, moon, and comet nucleus. It is larger than any other local rocky planet. (Nobody knows for sure what size rocks lie at the cores of Jovian planets, or orbit other stars.) It used to be the largest rock of any type known until earlier last year. The Voyager 1 spacecraft took the above picture of the giant space rock in 1990 from the outer Solar System. This rock is so large its gravity makes it nearly spherical, and holds heavy gases near its surface. Today, this rock starts another orbit around its parent star, for roughly the 5 billionth time, spinning over 350 times during each trip. Happy Gregorian Calendar New Year to all the human inhabitants of this rock we call Earth.