Comet Facts

Comet Facts


Enjoy these fun comet facts for kids. Learn interesting info about Halley’s Comet, Shoemaker-Levy 9 (the comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994), what comets are made of, why they have tails and lots more.

• A comet is a relatively small solar system body that orbits the Sun. When close enough to the Sun they display a visible coma (a fuzzy outline or atmosphere due to solar radiation) and sometimes a tail.
• The coma is created as the comet gets closer to the Sun, causing water, carbon dioxide and other compounds to sublime (quickly changing from solid to gas) from its surface.
• Comets are made of ice, dust and small rocky particles.
• The name comet comes from the Greek word meaning ‘hair of the head’, it came from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who observed comets as ‘stars with hair’.
• Short term comets (also known as periodic comets) have orbital periods of less than 200 years while long term comets have orbital periods of over 200 years.