omets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the

Sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet's
orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases
into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases
form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles. There
are likely billions of comets orbiting our Sun in the Kuiper Belt and even
more distant Oort Cloud.

The current number of known comets is:

3,588

Go farther. Explore Comets in Depth ›

Key Science Targets

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103P/Hartley (Hartley 2)

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109P/Swift-Tuttle

19P/Borrelly

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 1P/Halley

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2P/Encke

55P/Tempel-Tuttle

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67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

81P/Wild
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C/1861 G1 (Thatcher)

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C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)

C/2013 A1 Siding Spring

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 ISON

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P/Shoemaker-Levy 9

Kid-Friendly Comets
Comets orbit the Sun just like planets and asteroids do, except a comet usually has a very
elongated orbit.
As the comet gets closer to the Sun, some of the ice starts to melt and boil off, along with
particles of dust. These particles and gases make a cloud around the nucleus, called a coma.

The coma is lit by the Sun. The sunlight also pushes this material into the beautiful brightly
lit tail of the comet.

Visit NASA Space Place for more kid-friendly facts.

NASA Space Place: All About Comets ›