The remainder of this page is dedicated to providing both descriptions and movies of each object in an attempt to help clarify the differences. They typically move through the solar system in orbits ranging from a few years to several hundred thousand years. Comets are not on fire. As they near the sun, the sun's heat melts the comet's ices and releases dust particles which are most evident as the comet's tail. Comets rarely come within a few million miles of Earth and, thus, have a slow apparent motion across our sky.
Typical comets remain visible for periods of several weeks up to several months.
It was obtained with a 60-cm reflector and shows the comet's motion over a period of about 75 minutes . The field of view is 9 x 9 arc minutes or about one-third the diameter of the full moon. It was obtained with a 30-cm reflector and shows the comet's motion over a period of 66 minutes . The field of view is 22 x 22 arc minutes or about three quarters of the diameter of the full moon. Meteors Meteoroids are the smallest particles orbiting the sun, and most are no larger than grains of sand.