Universe  ID: 11693

How Comets Are Born

Story by Kim Smuga-Otto Released on December 16, 2014
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Astronomers have spotted thousands of comets in the solar system, but how did they form?
Comets are small, icy objects that circle the sun. They can be thought of as floating time capsules, preserving a chemical record of the early solar system. Astronomers believe comets materialized more than 4.5 billion years ago from the dust and gas of the protoplanetary disk, a donut-shaped cloud of debris surrounding our newborn star. On the fringes of the disk, far from the sun’s heat, fine grains of dust coated with frozen gases and water ice began clumping together. Over time, clumps of dust assembled into ice-rich rocks, which later evolved into the mile-sized bodies that we observe today traveling among and far beyond the planets. Watch the video to see an artist’s interpretation of the birth of a comet.
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See how comets grow from microscopic particles to objects the size of mountains in this video.
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Particles of dust coated with water ice and other molecules serve as a comet's building blocks.
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Dust particles combine to form icy rocks that join together under the force of gravity.
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High-speed collisions result in a loosely bound collection of fused rock and ice.
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When a comet passes through the inner solar system, its ice warms, releasing a trail of gas and dust.

Story Credits

Lead Scientists:
Karl Battams (Naval Research Laboratory)
Michael Mumma (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Writer:
Kim Smuga-Otto (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NSF
Video courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11693

Keywords:
NASA Science >> Universe
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