• Question: what are comets caused by?

    Asked by milbob8800 to Kate on 11 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by izzy2014.
    • Photo: Kate Salmon

      Kate Salmon answered on 11 Mar 2014:

      Hi @milbob8800, comets are made up of dust, ice and small rocky particles. They orbit the sun, just like planets and when they come close to the sun, they heat up and then a ‘tail’ can be seen. There are some known comets in our solar system which we can see every few years e.g. Halley’s comet which comes around every 75-76 years. The next time it will appear will be mid 2061 so be sure to look out for it!

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