Comets and the Solar System

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to comets and the formation of the solar system.

Comets

Small icy bodies that release gas or dust. They move on elliptical orbits.

Oort Cloud

A distant spherical shell surrounding the solar system, where many comets are believed to originate.

Coma

The nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet, formed from sublimated gases.

Ion Tail

A stream of ionized gas that forms when a comet approaches the Sun.

Dust Tail

A trail of small particles that reflects sunlight and forms behind a comet.

Snow Line

The distance from a star beyond which water can exist in solid form.

Asteroids

Rocky objects orbiting the Sun, primarily located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Short-period Comets

Comets that take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun, originating from the Kuiper Belt.

Long-period Comets

Comets that take thousands or millions of years to complete their orbits, originating from the Oort Cloud.

Planetary Formation

The process by which planets form from the dust and gas in protoplanetary disks.

Condensation Theory

The widely accepted theory explaining the formation of solar systems from a rotating cloud of gas and dust.

Accretion

The process by which particles come together to form larger bodies, such as asteroids and planets.

Protoplanetary Disk

A rotating disk of dense gas and dust surrounding a newly formed star, where planets form.

Hydrated Asteroids

Asteroids that contain water and are believed to contribute to the oceans on Earth.

Meteoroids

Small particles that are smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from 1 meter to the size of a grain of sand.

Meteorites

Meteoroids that survive passage through the Earth's atmosphere and land on the ground.

Dwarf Planets

Celestial bodies that orbit the Sun and have enough mass for their shape to be nearly round but are not classified as full-fledged planets.

Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs)

Any minor planet in the solar system that orbits the Sun at a greater average distance than Neptune.

Migration of Gas Giants

The process by which gas giant planets move position in the solar system due to gravitational interactions.