what are comets
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, heats up and begins to outgas, displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet.iagram of a comet showing the dust trail, the dust tail (or antitail) and the ion gas tail, which is formed by the solar wind flow. Gas and snow jets on Comet Hartley 2. In the outer Solar System, comets remain frozen and inactive and are extremely difficult or impossible to detect from Earth due to their small size.