Astronomy › Section J · Small bodies and the origin of the solar system › Topic J.3
Origin and fate of comets
The comets we see are visitors from two vast, frozen reservoirs at the edge of the solar system, kept nearly unchanged for 4.6 billion years. Once a comet falls inwards, its clock speeds up: within thousands of orbits it is destroyed, ejected or worn away.
In this topic
- Where do comets come from?
- Centaurs: between the giants
- The Kuiper belt
- The Oort cloud
- Worked example: a comet from the Oort cloud
- How the reservoirs formed
- The fate of comets
- Worked example: how long can a comet last?
- Visitors from other stars
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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