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Discover the fascinating world of comets and stardust! Learn about the structure of a comet, including its ion tail, dust tail, and coma. Explore the composition of comets and the role of the nucleus, rocks, and ice. Unravel the secrets of the Oort Cloud, the birthplace of long-period comets. Get to know famous comets like Hale-Bopp and Halley. Join the Stardust Astronomy Club and help scientists find stardust particles through the Stardust @ Home project. This tutorial and resources provide a wealth of information to satisfy your curiosity about comets and stardust!
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Comets and Stardust Astronomy Club December 13th, 2006
Structure of a Comet Ion Tail Dust Tail Coma To Sun
Comet Composition • Nucleus • 10 km “Dirty Snowball” • Rocks and ice • Coma – gas around the nucleus • Cloud of evaporated ices and ions • may be 100,000 km in diameter • Tail • Always points away from Sun • Solar Wind and Radiation Pressure Comet Hale-Bopp
1997—Comet Hale-Bopp Can you spot the coma, gas tail, and curved dust tail?
The Oort Cloud • Birthplace of long-period comets • there is no preferential direction from which comets come. • Consists of debris left over from the condensation of the solar nebula
Bayeaux TapestryNorman Invasion of 1066 Comet Halley
Encounter January 2004 Earth Return January 2006
Stardust @ Home! • http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ • Help scientist to find stardust particles in the gel slides save time • “By asking for help from talented volunteers like you … we can do this project in months instead of years. “ • This is a tutorial: http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ss_tutorial_start.php
For more information • http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ • www.physics.sfasu.edu/markworth/ast105/Minor-Bodies.ppt • http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/DLN/descriptions/presentations/sb_comet_wild_2_stardust.ppt • Wikipedia