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Chapter 15: Problem 55

If a comet is visible with a telescope at your disposal, make arrangements to view it. Can you distinguish the comet from background stars? Can you see its coma? Can you see a tail?

Short Answer

Expert verified
Comets can be distinguished from stars due to a larger, fuzzier appearance and potentially a clearly visible tail. The surrounding nebulous envelope called the coma, as well as a tail, might be seen if the comet is close and active enough and if the telescope offers sufficient magnification.

Step by step solution

01

Organize your materials

Ensure that the telescope is ready and properly functioning. The location should be sufficiently dark to clearly view celestial bodies.
02

Identifying a Comet

A comet can be distinguished from stars by its appearance. Unlike stars, comets are not point-like. They appear as fuzzy patches in the sky and can be larger in the field of view.
03

Observing the Coma

The coma of a comet is the nebulous envelope around the nucleus. If the comet is close enough and the telescope's magnification power is high enough, you should be able to see the fuzzy area around the main bright center of the comet.
04

Observing the Tail

The tail of a comet typically points away from the sun and can often stretch across the sky. The comet's tail can be seen if the comet is sufficiently active, i.e., near the Sun on its orbit and if the tail is long enough to be resolved by the telescope at a given distance from the comet.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Several scientific research programs are dedicated to the search for near- Earth objects (NEOs), especially those that might someday strike our planet. Search the World Wide Web for information about at least one of these programs. How does this program search for NEOs? How many NEOs has this program discovered? Will any of these pose a threat in the near future?

From the abundance of craters on the Moon and Mercury, we know that numerous asteroids and meteoroids struck the inner planets early in the history of our solar system. Is it reasonable to suppose that numerous comets also pelted the planets \(3.5\) to \(4.5\) billion years ago? Speculate about the effects of such a cometary bombardment, especially with regard to the evolution of the primordial atmospheres on the terrestrial planets.

Scientists can tell that certain meteorites came from the interior of an asteroid rather than from its outer layers. Explain how this is done.

What led astronomers to suspect that there were members of the solar system that orbit between Mars and Jupiter?

Sun-grazing comets come so close to the Sun that their perihelion distances are essentially zero. Find the orbital periods of Sun-grazing comets whose aphelion distances are (a) 100 \(\mathrm{AU}\), (b) \(1000 \mathrm{AU}\), (c) \(10,000 \mathrm{AU}\), and (d) \(100,000 \mathrm{AU}\). Assuming that these comets can survive only a hundred perihelion passages, calculate their lifetimes. (Hint: Remember that the semimajor axis of an orbit is one-half the length of the orbit's long axis.)
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