Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: BenLurkin

Well, what makes a comet a comet? The orbit is elliptical, and it gets the tail flowing out from it as it travels close to the sun. An identical object in a circular orbit far from the sun would never have the tail so it really could never be called a comet.

An asteroid is only an asteroid because it is in a circular orbit around the sun. Orbiting any other body, it would be called a moon of that body. Diemos and Phobos are both tiny rocky objects that really look a lot like asteroids. Some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are icy objects that probably would be comets if they were in the right kind of orbits.

Chiron is a lot like Pluto but orbits much closer to the sun. It might have been termed a planet for a while had it been discovered sooner. And any of these objects would be called comets if they passed closer to the sun.


4 posted on 03/17/2015 9:21:06 AM PDT by webheart (We are all pretty much living in a fiction.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: webheart

Comets are rocky ice-balls.

Asteroids are Icy-rock balls.

Can’t you see the difference? :)


5 posted on 03/17/2015 9:32:49 AM PDT by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson