Comet Levy
by Gordon Garradd/science Photo Library
Title
Comet Levy
Artist
Gordon Garradd/science Photo Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Photograph of Comet Levy taken on September 16th 1990. A comet is a body of of ice and dust which moves on a long, elliptical orbit around the Sun. As it nears the Sun its surface is heated and some of the ice evaporates. The gas becomes ionised by the Sun's ultraviolet light and forms a coma, the glowing halo surrounding the nucleus. Ionised gas is drawn outwards by the solar wind (a stream of high velocity charged particles emitted by the Sun), forming a plasma tail. The released dust sometimes forms a second tail, pushed outwards, directly away from the Sun, by radiation pressure.
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September 30th, 2018
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