Comets are tailed travelers. G. P. Shalaeva Who is who in the world of stars and planets How objects move in space

Since ancient times, people have watched the starry sky with admiration and surprise, trying to learn its secrets. Throughout human history, astronomers, step by step, bit by bit, have collected information about space, including very interesting space objects - comets, about which our today's article is.

What is a comet

The very word "comet" is of ancient Greek origin, and our language is translated as "with long hair." Of course, this name is not accidental, because a mandatory attribute of any decent comet is the presence of a long tail, which the poetic ancient Greeks represented as “hair”.

So, a comet is a small celestial object moving around the Sun in a highly elongated orbit, having a “head” and a “tail”. At first, astronomers considered comets to be travelers from outside ours, who are “passing through” here, but later found out that comets never leave the solar system, that is, they are not “tourists” here, but “permanent residents”.

And comets are often confused with other flying celestial objects: asteroids and meteorites, but we will try to clarify at this point and formulate the difference between them.

How are asteroids different from comets?

In general, comets and asteroids have many features in common: they revolve around the Sun, have unusual orbits, and comets and asteroids can fly by, including close to the Earth, like other planets in the solar system. But what is their difference? In fact, a comet differs from an asteroid in many ways:

• In composition: asteroids are composed of rocky material and comets are formed from ice, dust, rocks and organic compounds. Due to the presence of ice in their composition, it is dangerous for comets to fly close to the Sun, the ice begins to melt, and comets lose a significant part of their volume. Asteroids, on the other hand, can fly close to the Sun, without any consequences.
• By the presence of a tail: comets have tails, asteroids, as a rule, do not. Although not so long ago, astronomers noticed asteroids (for example, an asteroid codenamed P / 2010 A2) that also had tails, but the nature of the formation of tails in asteroids is different than in comets. The tail of an asteroid is formed as a result of its impact on other asteroids, which causes a large emission of dust and gas from its surface, creating a “tail effect”. But in general, the tail of an asteroid is the exception rather than the rule. We will talk about the nature of the comet tail below.
• Orbitally: asteroids have shorter and more circular orbits, while comets have wider and more elongated orbits.

What is the difference between a meteorite and a comet

A meteorite is also very similar to a comet, but there are many differences between them:

• Size: meteorites are several times smaller than comets, if a comet can be several kilometers in diameter, then meteorites can boast of only a few meters.
• Meteorites, like most asteroids, do not have a tail, this decoration of all comets. In general, the shape of a meteorite is different from that of a comet.
• The composition of a comet and a meteorite is also different, as we wrote above, a comet consists of ice, dust, rocks and organic compounds, while a meteorite is created from some kind of solid substance (rocks, metal, ore).
• And the main difference is in the essence of the meteorite, because in fact it is an object that represents the process of the fall of a celestial body, while a comet is a full-fledged “inhabitant of outer space”, unlike a meteorite, it does not fall anywhere (although there are exceptions), but simply flies to itself within the solar system.

Comets and history

In ancient times, comets were the cause of numerous superstitions, and even miracles. Often their appearance in the night sky was associated, either with omens of various misfortunes, or vice versa, with great auspicious events. So the famous "Star of Bethlehem", described in the Bible, which, according to the Gospel of Matthew, the magi saw in the starry sky and realized that the "King of the Jews" was born, was most likely just the same comet.

Prominent scientists of antiquity also wrote about comets in their writings, in particular, Aristotle believed that comets are luminous gas, and the Roman philosopher Seneca suggested that comets are celestial bodies that move in their orbits.

A lot of noise in history was made by the famous Halley's comet, which was seen more than once in the starry sky and its appearance was always associated with various historical events. For example, it is believed that the arrival of Halley's comet in 1066 brought with it the death of the English King Harold II and the victory of William the Conqueror - one of the turning points in the history of the European Middle Ages.

Appearance of Halley's comet in 1066, fragment of the Bayeux tapestry celebrating the victory of William the Conqueror.

What are comets made of?

To date, science has made significant progress in the study of these interesting celestial objects, including their composition. So, comets consist of a solid core, which in turn consists of frozen water and cosmic dust. The comet itself, as we wrote above, consists of ice, dust, rocks and organic compounds.

How does a comet's tail form?

Where does a comet have a tail, in general, what causes the formation of comet tails? The characteristic fiery tail of a comet is an ejection of gas and dust that occurs under the influence of solar energy. As the comet flies closer to the Sun, its surface heats up, causing this ejection, which creates the comet's tail. Moreover, if tails of asteroids are formed only when they collide with something, for a comet they will appear simply when it approaches a little closer to the Sun due to the structural features of the comet itself. It is also interesting that the comet's tail points away from the Sun, always.

Age of comets

Nothing lasts forever under the moon, even the stars have their age, and comets even more so. Moreover, comets have a peculiar life cycle, at first they are young, and then they grow old. Aging in comets is manifested in the fact that flying around the Sun, they gradually lose their volume, which is from a comet under the influence of solar energy (the tail of a comet is precisely the product of this evaporation).

comet fall

The fall of a comet on any planet (including our Earth) is an unlikely case, but the key word here is still “probable”, that is, as a result of a certain set of circumstances, a comet can fall (rather even crash) into one or another planet. As you probably guessed, this does not bode well for the planet, because as a result of the fall of a comet, a huge explosion will follow, comparable in power to the explosions of hundreds of thousands of atomic bombs.

• There is also a mention of a comet as a bad omen in our history, namely the "Tale of Bygone Years", which astronomers at that time considered "moving tailed stars."
• According to some scientists, the famous Halley's comet, which appears in our starry sky with a frequency of 75 years, could well be the no less famous "Star of Bethlehem" from the Bible.

Comets, video

And in conclusion, an interesting documentary film about the most legendary comets that live in our solar system.

Among other "unusual" celestial phenomena that we have not yet talked about, comets have attracted and continue to attract special attention of man (the word comet comes from the Greek word "cometes", which means "tailed", "hairy"). Large comets - bright celestial bodies with a long luminous tail - a rare, memorable sight.

The suddenness of the appearance of such comets, their extraordinary appearance and increasing size have caused fear in people since ancient times. Churchmen and all kinds of "predictors" associated various disasters with the appearance of comets - crop failures, illnesses, wars, the death of the Earth. Comets were considered a manifestation of God's wrath, an ominous heavenly sign.

An ignorant view of comets was also held by most medieval scientists. So, back in the 17th century, the German Hildebrandt divided comets into eight groups according to their "malicious actions." To the first group, he attributed comets that cause illness, to the second - comets that portend hard times and famine, and so on.

Almost everyone was convinced that comets could spread harmful fumes in the air that affect people.

Thanks to this view of these, in fact, completely safe for the Earth and its inhabitants

Space bodies, each appearance of comets was described in detail by historians.

Here is how, for example, a comet that appeared in 1066 is described in the Russian chronicle:

“At the same time, there was a sign in the west, a great star, having a beam of blood like blood, rising in the evening after sunset and staying for seven days; But the manifestations are not for good: for this reason, there was a lot of strife and the invasion of the filthy on the Russian land, this is a bloody star, showing bloodshed.

Apparently, the tail of the comet of 1066 was visible against the background of the evening dawn and therefore seemed "bloody", that is, red.

The medieval view of comets as something terrible persisted until the very recent past. More recently, a lot of superstitious conversations and rumors were associated with the appearance of a bright comet with the question: what will happen if the comet collides with the Earth?

In May 1910, when Halley's bright comet appeared in the sky, the newspapers reported: “Viennese astronomers are convinced that the tail of the comet will touch the Earth. There is panic among the population, especially in the provinces.” Many residents of Tehran (Iran) dug pits and hid in them from "heavenly wrath".

Many absurd rumors about Halley's comet of 1910 also spread in Tsarist Russia. The population, not knowing the true causes of this completely natural natural phenomenon, believed any absurd fiction. Taking advantage of this, the clergy frightened people with the "end of the world" and "God's punishment" for sins. Prayers were served on the streets of the cities. At the same time, the authorities banned scientific discussions about comets. Thus, a popular lecture on Halley's comet by astronomer K-L was banned in Moscow. Baeva in the working circle "Knowledge of the sky".

At present, the nature of comets is well studied. The comet appears in the sky as a small, inconspicuous hazy speck. But several days pass, and in the night sky you can already see a bright star, as if shrouded in a light cloud. The Star is growing fast. With great speed it rushes towards the Sun. A few more days pass, and the comet takes on a new unusual appearance: a long luminous tail appears behind it, resembling fiery hair! Its brightness is increasing, the comet is already visible during the day, with the Sun.

Having circled the Sun, the bright "tailed star" begins to move away from it. As the comet moves away from the Sun, the brightness of the comet decreases, its tail gradually disappears, and after a short time the comet again becomes an inconspicuous hazy speck.

The appearance of such a bright comet, clearly visible to the naked eye, is a rare phenomenon. Over the past century, for example, large comets of 1843, 1858 and 1910 are known. Recently, a bright comet was observed in the southern hemisphere in December 1947.

But the total number of comets in world space is enormous. Most of them are invisible to the naked eye, but with telescopes they can often be seen. Astronomers usually observe several comets annually.

Science has established that, like the planets, comets move around the Sun under the influence of its attraction, approaching it at certain intervals.

Halley's comet, which we have already mentioned, which was observed near the Sun for the last time in 1910, makes its complete revolution around the Sun in 75-77 years (Fig. 22). Until 1910, she visited near

Sun in 1835, in 1759 and earlier. In total, 28 cases of its occurrence were noted. The appearance of Halley's comet was noted in Chinese chronicles, 240 years before our era.

The next appearance of Halley's comet should be expected around 1986.

The time of revolution of comets around the Sun is different. So, the small comet Encke goes around the Sun in just over three years. On the other hand, such comets are also known, the period of complete revolution of which around the Sun is more than one thousand years.

The paths of movement of many comets are now studied so well that scientists know in advance where and when this or that “tailed star” will be visible in the sky.

By studying comets, astronomers have found that the mass of comets is negligible; in the largest comets, it is many million times less than the mass of the Earth. Observations show that comets are not a solid body: stars shine through the nebulous body of a comet. On the other hand, it has been established that the accumulation of gases and the smallest dust cannot exist for a long time. A stable accumulation of small particles of matter, such as comets, should consist of fairly large fragments, from 1 centimeter or more.

Observations of passing comets made it possible to establish that fragments hundreds of meters in size are found in comets.

A comet's head, nucleus, and tail are usually distinguished. The comet's head nucleus is the brightest part of the head; it consists of small fragments and stones. The core is enveloped in a shell of dust and gases.

When a comet approaches the Sun, its core heats up and begins to emit gases: nitrogen, carbon monoxide (carbon monoxide) and others - they form a foggy shell and one or more comet tails.

Comet tails point away from the Sun. This is due to the fact that the hot gases and the smallest particles that make up the comet's tail are under pressure from the sun's rays. The pressure of light on solids and gases was proved by the famous Russian physicist P. N. Lebedev.

Of great importance in the study of comets and comet tails were the works of the outstanding Russian scientist F. A. Bredikhin and the Soviet scientist S. V. Orlov, who was awarded the Stalin Prize. Prof. S. V. Orlov showed that the size of cometary nuclei cannot exceed 10 kilometers in diameter. From this it is clear that even a direct collision of a comet with the Earth does not threaten our planet with any kind of catastrophe, about which so much was written quite recently in science fiction stories. The earth has a fairly strong armor - an air shell. And the mass of comets itself, in comparison with the mass of the Earth, as we have already said, is negligible.

And such direct collisions of the Earth with comets have already happened more than once. In 1872, for example, the Earth collided with the remains of Biela's comet, which broke up in 1846. The result of this collision was only a plentiful "star rain" (more on "star rain" later). It was the smallest fragments and dust particles that were part of the comet's nucleus that flew through our atmosphere. Most of them did not reach the Earth.

Nothing terrible promises the Earth and its collision with comet tails. Such cases also happened repeatedly. So, in May 1910, the Earth, as astronomers expected, did indeed pass through the tail of Halley's comet, and this did not harm us in any way. The air envelope of the Earth reliably protects us from the penetration of meteor dust and gases.

Aseev Egor

This interstellar eternal wanderer.

In the night sky, just imagine.

And flies away for a long time,

Waving our tails goodbye.

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Preview:

Municipal budgetary educational institution "Bykovskaya basic comprehensive school of the Yakovlevsky district of the Belgorod region"

Research work on the topic

"Does a 'star' have a tail and why are comets called celestial chameleons?"

Aseev Egor

3rd grade student

Supervisor:

Peremyshleva T.I.

elementary teacher

classes

Bykovka 2012-2013 academic year

1. Introduction

This interstellar

Eternal Wanderer

In the night sky

Just introduce yourself

And flies away

For a long time afterwards

We say goodbye, flickering tail.

slide 2

Man has always been attracted to the sky with twinkling stars and the bottomless depth of the Universe. There are a lot of stars in our galaxy called the Milky Way. Some are very bright, while others are barely noticeable. The stars serve all. For some, these are lighthouses, for others, they are a decoration of the sky, and for scientists, they are a mystery that needs to be unraveled.

Object of studywas space, and the subject of study - comets.

Purpose of the study: to deepen ideas about the solar system, the celestial bodies included in its composition.

Work tasks:

To study popular scientific literature on this issue;

Gather brief informationabout the history of the appearance of comets;

Present in the study the qualitative characteristics of the structure of the comet;

Draw an analogy between the appearance of comets and terrible events on the planet;

Consider and present the brightest comets in the solar system.

slide 3

Hypothesis:

• Comets are celestial wanderers that are part of the solar system.
• Are people's fears about the appearance of comets in the sky justified?
• Is there a danger of Earth being destroyed from space by comets?

slide 4

Research methods: analysis of additional literature, work with Internet resources.

Presentation of results: multimedia presentation.

Research questions:

1. What does a comet look like? Where does the tail come from?
2. What gases make up a comet's tail?
3. Superstitions associated with the appearance of comets.
4. Where do comets come from?
5. Modern research on comets.
6. Can a comet explode?
7. What happens if the Earth collides with the nucleus of a comet?

Comets are called "tail stars", but can they have a tail like a peacock? And do they change color like chameleons?

slide 5

TERRIBLY INTERESTING,

EVERYTHING THAT IS UNKNOWN!

TERRIBLY UNKNOWN,

EVERYTHING THAT IS INTERESTING!

slide 6

2. Main part

2.1 Comet - this guest from the distant worlds of the universe. Translated from Greek (cometes) means long-haired, tailed. Together with asteroids and meteoroids, they are classified as small bodies of the solar system.. Slide 7

Comets are called celestial chameleons. And why? Because the same comet changes its appearance depending on how far from the Sun it is. Away from the Sun, the comet is visible as a small bright hazy circle, brighter in the middle and blurry at the edges. When a comet approaches the Sun, the nebulous speck, as it appears, stretches towards the Sun, and its brightness becomes more and more.. Slide 8

2. Where does a comet get its tail from?

To do this, you need to study the structure of the comet. Comets are called dirty snowballs. The core is a block of dirty ice mixed with dust and rock fragments. The solid part of the comet is surrounded by a cloudglowing gases - the so-called coma.

Comets tend to the sun. Streams of solar rays (solar wind) knock out gas particles from the coma and throw them back, pulling them into a long smoky tail that drags behind it into space.The tail of a comet is always directed, away from the Sun, as if the Sun stubbornly pushes the comet's tail away from itself. Sometimes it is completely straight, and sometimes it is curved. Comet tails sometimes stretch for tens and hundreds of millions of kilometers.

slide 9, 10

2.3 How many tails can a comet have?

Bright comets usually have two main tails. The first of them is straight, bluish, elongated away from the Sun. It is made up of gas blown away by the solar wind.

But there is also a yellow-white tail - made of dust, trailing behind a comet along its orbit.

Some comets have more than two tails. Comet de Chezo had seven tailsspread out like a peacock's tail.

2.4 What gases make up the tail of a comet?

This is carbon monoxide, or carbon monoxide, which is formed in the room if we close the stove before the fuel has burned out. The closer the nucleus of a comet is to the Sun, the more it heats up and the more gases come out of it.

As the comet moves away from the Sun, it freezes again. Some comets appear near the Sun every few years. In others, the orbit is so elongated that their appearance occurs only after several thousand and even millions of years.

slide 11

2.5 Where do comets come from?

It was possible to solve the question of where comets come from and how they move in space only on the basis of the law of universal gravitation. First Newton, and then his contemporary, the English astronomer Edmund Halley (1656-1742), calculated the orbits of several comets and earlier ones, and found that the orbits of the comets observed in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were very similar. He suggested that it was the same comet, periodically returning to the Sun, and for the first time predicted its next appearance. Since the time of Newton and Halley, the orbits of more than 700 comets have been calculated. This led to the proof that all celestial bodies are attracted to each other and revolve around the Sun.

And the Dutch scientist Jan Oort more than fifty years ago calculated and substantiated the conclusion: the solar system is surrounded by a giant cloud of comets that extend at a distance of 20,000 to 200,000 astronomical units (1 AU - about 150 million kilometers).This is where comets spend most of their lives. Only sometimes, under the influence of perturbations from other cosmic bodies, they can change their orbit and approach the Sun. Then we see them from the Earth.

slide 12

2. 6 Superstitions associated with comets

Due to their unusual appearance (the presence of a tail that can extend to several constellations), comets have attracted the attention of people from ancient times, even those far from astronomy. The unexpected appearance of "tailed luminaries" caused fear in people, and even panicky horror. The “tailed star”, approaching the Earth, seemed to portend the most terrible events: epidemics, famine, wars, natural disasters, palace coups, murders of nobles and rulers. Some of these events were accompanied by the appearance of bright comets, but most often it was a mere coincidence. But palace astronomers-astrologers and the church for a very long time predicted the future, based on celestial phenomena. Under the influence of such superstitious fears, one contemporary sketched in an old book a comet and what he saw in it from fear. He imagined dozens of severed heads with bloody beards, daggers and sabers in the comet.

slide 14

The most mysterious comet for many centuries is Halley's Comet. Comets have traditionally been seen as harbingers of very significant changes on Earth.. There are significant events associated with the appearance of Halley's comet. According to Holy Tradition, the baby Christ was born, and this coincided with the appearance of Halley's comet in the sky, and it became a kind of happy harbinger for mankind.

With the advent of Halley's comet, bloody wars and devastating earthquakes, floods and epidemics that claim thousands of lives are associated. The last time the comet approached Earth was in 1986, and its visit was marked by one of the strongest environmental disasters on Earth - the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.

Whether it's a mere coincidence or whether comets actually influence terrestrial events is still a mystery. And there is no consensus on this issue, since more difficult events took place on Earth without the presence of comets in the sky.

slide 15

2.7 Studying Halley's Comet

Interest in comets does not fade even now.Comets have always captured the imagination of people. Living on the outskirts of the universe, they, as if in a refrigerator, have retained their original state. Halley's Comet is one of the brightest and longest period comets.This comet has inspired people with fear and horror since ancient times. People were afraid that the comet might collide with the Earth. At the beginning of the 20th century (May 1910), the Earth actually passed through the tail of Halley's comet, but there were no changes to the planet.That is why in March 1986, the Soviet automatic stations "Vega" went to Halley's comet, which approaches the Earth once every 76 years. It was they who transmitted the first image of the nucleus of a comet.Spacecraft for the first time had to "see" the nucleus of a comet, elusive for ground-based telescopes. The meeting of Vega-1 with the comet took place on March 6, and Vega-2 on March 9, 1986. They passed at a distance of 8900 and 8000 kilometers from its core.

slide 16

2.8 Bright comets of the 20th and 21st centuries

15-20 comets are observed annually, most of which are visible only through a telescope. Some of them are new, previously unknown. This happened, for example, recently, when in 1996 and 1997. two very bright comets, visible even to the naked eye, appeared, although such comets usually appear once every 10-15 years. By tradition, they are named after the names of those who discovered them. This is a Japanese amateur astronomer Hyakutaki and two Americans - Hale and Bopp.

Slide 17

2013: Year of comets

Russian and Belarusian astronomers have discovered a new comet. By late summer 2013, the comet will be visible with small telescopes and binoculars, and will pass Mars in October. When approaching the Sun, the so-called "tail" of the comet will begin to form - a plume of dust and gas. By the end of November, it will be visible to the naked eye just after dark. The light of this comet will outshine the moonlight.

Slide 18

2. 9 Can a comet explode?

Comets don't explode on their own. However, sometimes they fall apart. For example, one comet, the appearance of which was observed repeatedly, in 1846 broke up into two. In the end, each of them crumbled into small fragments, forming a meteor shower, which can be regularly observed in the last days of November. Thus, sooner or later, each comet dies, breaking up into small pieces, which then crumble along its orbit in the form of meteoric dust.

Slide 19

3. Can a comet hit a planet?

In 1994, the whole world witnessed one extraordinary event that mankind has not yet been able to observe - the collision of fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 with Jupiter. This comet has been calmly circling the Sun for many millions, and maybe even billions of years, regularly arriving to it from distant space. However, she unexpectedly fell into the powerful gravitational field of Jupiter. The comet was forced to revolve around itself in a very unstable orbit. In 1972, the comet approached 20 thousand km and lost its magnificent plume. The core broke up into several fragments. The end was coming. And it happened on July 17, 1994. Fragments began to fall one by one on the surface of the planet. Explosions on Jupiter were observed from space by the Hubble telescope, astronomers from the Hawaiian Islands. The flames from the explosions rose so high that it could be seen even with a small school telescope.

Slide 20

3.1 Why did dinosaurs become extinct?

About 65 million years ago, all dinosaurs suddenly became extinct. Together with them, pterosaurs and marine reptiles became extinct. Why this happened, scientists do not know exactly. But one thing is clear, the climate has changed dramatically. During the age of the dinosaurs, the climate was warm.

According to one hypothesis, dinosaurs became extinct as a result of the fall of a large comet or asteroid.

slide 21

3.2 What happens if the Earth collides with the nucleus of a comet?

When the Earth passed through comet tails, no, even the most insignificant effects were noticed. Only cometary nuclei can pose a danger to the Earth. Scientists say that the breakup of a comet into pieces is a rare event, the capture of a comet by Jupiter is an even rarer occurrence, and the collision of a large comet with a planet is an extraordinary cosmic event.

Recently, in an American laboratory, on one of the most powerful computers Intel Teraflop with a performance of 1 trillion operations per second, a model of a comet falling with a radius of 1 kilometer to Earth was calculated. The calculations took 48 hours. They showed that such a cataclysm would be fatal for humanity: hundreds of tons of dust would rise into the air, blocking access to sunlight and heat, a giant tsunami would form when it fell into the ocean, devastating earthquakes would occur ... According to one hypothesis, dinosaurs died out as a result of the fall of a large comet or asteroid. In the state of Arizona (USA) there is a crater with a diameter of 1219 meters, formed after the fall of a meteorite 60 meters in diameter. The explosion was equivalent to the explosion of 15 million tons of TNT. It is assumed that the famous Tunguska meteorite of 1908 had a diameter of about 100 meters. Therefore, scientists are now working on the creation of a system for the early detection, destruction or deflection of large space bodies flying near our planet.

slide 22

Space bodies are constantly falling on our planet. Some of them are the size of a grain of sand, others can weigh several hundred kilograms and even tons.To prove this, I will give an example of the latest event in the Urals.February, 15a very strong explosion of a cosmic body occurred over the Urals.

According to the latest data, the number of people affected by the fall of meteorite debris in the Chelyabinsk region alone amounted to about 1200 people. The main number of people were injured by glass fragments, which were knocked out by a sound wave after a meteorite explosion.

slide 23

4. Conclusion

Despite their careful study, comets are still fraught with many mysteries.Some of these beautiful "tailed stars", shining in the evening sky from time to time, can pose a real danger to our planet.. But progress in this area does not stand still, and, most likely, our generation will already witness a landing on a cometary nucleus. Comets are not yet of practical interest, but their study will help to understand the basics, the causes of other events. The comet is a cosmic wanderer, it passes through very remote regions inaccessible to research, and perhaps it "knows" what is happening in interstellar space.

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