Artwork of the icy core (nucleus) of a comet. Comets are mostly frozen ices (water,methane and ammonia) and dust,and they are often referred to as 'dirty snowballs'. The nucleus of a comet can be many kilometres across. They orbit the Sun on highly elliptical orbits. When far from the Sun they are inert; but as they approach,the Sun's heat warms them up,surface ices begin to melt and jets of high-pressure gases begin to erupt from the surface. It is these gases that give the comet its distinctive coma (head) and tail | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / Garlick, Mark |
Taille de l’image : | 5368 px × 3827 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : | - |