The first written records of comets date back to nearly 3,000 years ago from

China and Europe. The accounts of these comets were believed to be the causes of

terrible events that occurred afterwards. In more recent times, however, astronomers have

found out what they really are. A comet is basically a mixture of ices, from both

water and frozen gases, and dust. They have also been given the names "dirty snowballs" or

"icy mudballs." The typical comet is less that 10 kilometers across. They spend most of

their time frozen solid in the outer parts of our solar system. Comets are composed of five

parts: the nucleus, coma, hydrogen cloud, dust tail, and ion tail. The nucleus is

pretty solid and stable, composed mostly of ice and gas with a small amount of dust and other

solids. The surface of the nucleus is best described as a black crust. Comet nuclei can

range from 1 kilometer to about 50 kilometers across. The black crust on the surface of

the nuclei......

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Title: Comets
Approximate Word Count: 2166
Approximate Pages: 9 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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