ASTR 100Lgx Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Alphonse Borrelly, Edmond Halley, Deep Space 1
Document Summary
Also proposed that their orbits were very eccentric. Comets are the most spectacular thing you can see with the naked eye. Newton was the first to propose that comets orbit the sun based on his gravity laws. Newton"s buddy edmund halley calculated the orbits for a few comets. Comets come into our solar system from all directions, not just the ecliptic. A comet"s head can be a million kilometers in diameter. The head of a comet has a gas coma and a solid nucleus. Predicted the return of one of them, so it got named comet halley. Has a period of approximately 76 years, varies based on planetary gravity. Sometimes planets throw them into orbit like halley"s. Their tails can be as long as 1 fricken au! (but usually 10 to 100 million km) Meteor showers have a radiant, the point they all emanate from. Surrounded by a water-ice mantle, then a tarry crust.
