AST 2002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Comet Hyakutake, Edmond Halley, Orbital Period
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One of the greatest visible comets in the southern hemisphere. E(cid:448)ery ti(cid:373)e a (cid:272)o(cid:373)et (cid:272)o(cid:373)es (cid:271)y it loses (cid:373)aterial a(cid:374)d does(cid:374)"t look as (cid:272)ool. One of the most beautiful sights in the sky. Throughout hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) history, these (cid:862)hairy(cid:863) stars would appear. Like planets, they moved with respect to the fixed stars. Unlike planets, they were not confined to the ecliptic and disappeared after several weeks. They were taken as omens of good or bad fortune. Dozens per year too dim to be seen by eye. First to realize that comets orbit the sun. Formed beyond the frostline, comets are icy counterparts to asteroids. Most comets remain perpetually frozen in the outer solar system. Only a few enter the inner solar system, where they can grow tails. A comet can only visit the sun a few hundred times before losing all its ice to sublimation. Or the rocky remains may stick together as an asteroid.
