What happens when the comets go near the Sun?

When a comet's orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the Sun for millions of miles.

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Subsequently, can a comet hit the earth?

NASA knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small. In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years. What's bigger a comet or an asteroid? These are much larger than comets. An asteroid only 5 km across would be classi- fied as small; Ceres, the largest, is 100 times bigger than this. They show no coma activity and the reflectance spectrum is similar to that of asteroids. They are bigger than standard comets but smaller than a typical asteroid.

What size comet is a planet killer?

What is the rarest comet? Comet Hale?Bopp Discovery Observation arc 8.48 years Orbit type Long period comet Aphelion 370.8 AU Perihelion 0.914 AU 14 more rows

Also, what comet comes closest to earth?

Comet Leonard, the brightest comet of the year, made its closest approach to Earth today (Dec. 12) and should be visible through binoculars and telescopes, weather permitting. Officially known as Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard), Comet Leonard was discovered in January by astronomer Gregory J.