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noun(astronomy) a relatively small extraterrestrial body consisting of a frozen mass that travels around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit
Definition that contains comet
- planet any celestial body (other than comets or satellites) that revolves around a star
- coma (astronomy) the luminous cloud of particles surrounding the frozen nucleus of a comet; forms as the comet approaches the sun and is warmed
- nucleus (astronomy) the center of the head of a comet; consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail
- halley English astronomer who used Newton's laws of motion to predict the period of a comet (1656-1742)
- cometary of or relating to or resembling a comet
- kuiper United States astronomer (born in the Netherlands) who studied the solar system and suggested in 1951 that there is a belt of comet-like debris at the edge of the solar system (1905-1973)
- perihelion periapsis in solar orbit; the point in the orbit of a planet or comet where it is nearest to the sun
- edmund halley English astronomer who used Newton's laws of motion to predict the period of a comet (1656-1742)
- cometic of or relating to or resembling a comet
- aphelion apoapsis in solar orbit; the point in the orbit of a planet or comet that is at the greatest distance from the sun