Comets

Getting Started

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Rubric: [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.doc]], [[file:Space Exploration Adventure Rubric.pdf]]
Comets are "heavenly bodies traveling around the sun". Most comets looks like stars with long tails on them. There are hundreds of comets in our solar system, but they most of them do not come cloe to the sun. The nick names for comets are dirty snowballs because, some are white and black like a dirty snowball. As the comet moves closer to the sun its gets faster from the suns energy. The size of a comets head is larger than Earth, but some can be small. Comets are made out of gas, dust, and ice. As the ice starts to expand the tail of the comet gets bigger and bigger. Scientists believe that comets are debri from the solar nebula. Comets tail are made of ice. The longer the tail is the faster the tail evaporates. As the tail evaporates the slower the comet goes.
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 * [[image:http://galenet.galegroup.com/images/itkids/pct/00230184-t.jpg width="110" height="110" caption="Comet Hyakutake." (Shigemi Numazawa/Atlas Photo Bank/Photo Researchers, Inc.) Kids InfoBits Presents: Astronomy. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2012. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/KidsInfoBits" link="http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/KidsInfoBits?subTopic=Space%2B%2526%2BAstronomy&locID=s0002&failover=0&srchtp=topic&topic=Science%2B%2526%2BMath&c=3&searchTerm=Comets&ste=6&tab=1&tbst=tsrch&relDocDisplay=00230184.jpg&docNum=BX3200950711&bConts=39"]] ||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://galenet.galegroup.com/images/itkids/pct/00207632.jpg width="160" height="110" caption="Image of "Halley's Comet""]] ||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://galenet.galegroup.com/images/itkids/pct/00207641.jpg width="166" height="135" caption="Image of "Comet in the Milky Wahttp://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/KidsInfoBitsy""]] ||  ||   ||
 * [[image:http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/Images/StarChild/solar_system_level2/comet_west.gif width="148" height="133" caption="Comet West http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/comets.html"]] || [[image:http://i.space.com/images/i/5982/original/new-comet-mcnaught-1-100608-02.jpg?1294157771 width="145" height="138" caption="Comet McNaught C/2009 R1 was visible on June 6, 2010 http://www.space.com/53-comets-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html"]] ||  ||


 * Works Cited**

**Sources** : Include the source information for all of the magazine articles, reference sources (encyclopedias) and web site pages that were used to complete your project. The source information for encyclopedias may be found at the end or beginning of each entry in iCONN. When using periodicals, the publication information will be at the beginning or end of the article. This needs to be formatted for MLA standards. If it is not labeled 'Source Citation' it can be formatted appropriately by using EasyBib.com. You should use EasyBib for the web sites. The final Works Cited should be listed in alphabetical order by the first word of the source citation. "Milky Way." //Kids InfoBits Presents: Astronomy//. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2012. "The Milky Way." //WMAP's Universe//. NASA, 28 June 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. . Vergano, Dan. "Galaxy Bracketed by Big Bubbles." //USA Today// 10 Nov. 2010: 05A. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
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"Comets." //Kids InfoBits Presents: Astronomy//. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Kids InfoBits. Detroit: Gale, 2012. [] []

**Topic: Research Focus**
 * What is your topic? My topic is comets.**
 * State the focus of your research: My focus was to learn about the comets, where they come from,how they form, and some things that can describe them.**

**Notes** ==== Include notes, statistics and facts that you will use to write your final paper. You may want to label sections of your notes to help you be more organized as you write. As you take notes from a source, you should list the source citation in the Works Cited section above. ====

Comets are heavenly bodies traveling around the sun. A comet looks like a star with long tail. There are hundreds of comets in our solar system, but most do not come near enough to Earth to be seen without a telescope. Comets are sometimes called "dirty snowballs." They are made up of chunks of rock and iron that are surrounded by gas. The melted ice becomes a gaseous tail. As a comet gets closer to the sun, it moves faster and [|Comets] are believed to have two sources. Long-period comets (those which take more than 200 years to complete an [|orbit] around the Sun) originate from the Oort Cloud. Short-period comets (those which take less than 200 years to complete an orbit around the Sun) originate from the Kuiper Belt. faster. The comet's tail will get longer as more of the ice evaporates. The head of a comet is larger than Earth. a small object made up of ice, dust and gas that orbits the sun. Jets of gas and dust form long tails that can be seen from Earth.

Scientists believe that comets are the debris left from the solar [|nebula] which condensed to form the Sun and planets in our [|solar system]. As of 1995, 878 comets have been cataloged and their orbits at least roughly calculated. Of these 184 are **periodic** comets (orbital periods less than 200 years); some of the remainder are no doubt periodic as well, but their orbits have not been determined with sufficient accuracy to tell for sure. Read more about [|Comets] by [|nineplanets.org] [] [] [] []