Comet Ikeya-seki
by Science Source
Title
Comet Ikeya-seki
Artist
Science Source
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Comet Ikeya-Seki, named after Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki who discovered the comet independently. A comet is a body of ice and dust, which moves around the Sun on a long, elliptical orbit. As it nears the Sun its surface is heated and some of the ice evaporates. The released gas is ionized by ultraviolet light from the Sun & begins to glow. The gas & dust can form two separate tails; a gas tail and a dust tail. A gas tail consists of ionized gas, swept outwards by the solar wind, whereas a dust tail is composed of grains of dust, blown outwards by solar radiation pressure.
Uploaded
June 1st, 2013
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