The Comet Coma

This image is a schematic of a comet. The center part of the comet, or nucleus, is represented by the flame. The solar wind particles are shown as green dots with arrows. And the ionized particles are shown as green/red dots with arrows. Neutral particles are shown by the other dots (without arrows). Click on image for full size version (4K GIF) Image provided courtesy of JPL

This cloud, called the coma, is the atmosphere of the comet and can extend for millions of miles. The cloud is very thin, however, with only a 100 particles in a cubic centimeter. By comparison, a cloud in the Earth's atmosphere might contain millions of particles per cubic centimeter.

Just as in any atmosphere, there are electrically charged particles present, called ions, as well as electrically neutral particles. Ions are formed when the cloud of neutral particles collides with the solar wind. A continual stream of neutral particles is produced as long as the nucleus is evaporating, and these neutral particles are continually converted to ions. These ions are what help form the comet tail.

This image is a schematic of a comet. The center part of the comet, or nucleus, is represented by the flame. The solar wind particles are shown as green dots with arrows. And the ionized particles are shown as green/red dots with arrows. Neutral particles are shown by the other dots (without arrows). Click on image for full size version (4K GIF) Image provided courtesy of JPL

This cloud, called the coma, is the atmosphere of the comet and can extend for millions of miles. The cloud is very thin, however, 10,000 times thinner than a cloud in the Earth's atmosphere!

The neutral particles that are in the coma can actually become excited by the solar wind causing the particles to become ions. A continual stream of neutral particles is produced as long as the nucleus is evaporating, and these neutral particles are continually converted to ions. These ions are what help form the comet tail.

This image is a schematic of a comet. The center part of the comet, or nucleus, is represented by the flame. The solar wind particles are shown as green dots with arrows. And the ionized particles are shown as green/red dots with arrows. Neutral particles are shown by the other dots (without arrows). Click on image for full size version (4K GIF) Image provided courtesy of JPL

This cloud, called the coma, is the atmosphere of the comet. It can extend for millions of miles. The cloud is very thin, 10,000 times thinner than a cloud in the Earth's atmosphere!