The 10 most beautiful comets ever

The Comets they come from afar, both in space and in time. I am indeed minor bodiesresidues of the formation of Solar system somewhat similar to asteroids, but formed at much greater distances, where ice dominates the scene. Most comets are found in the Oort cloudthat huge region that surrounds the planetary system that extends up to 100 thousand astronomical units from the Sun. They are long-term cometswhich can take tens of thousands of years to complete a complete circle around the Sun. There are also others, called di short periodfor which instead a few decades can pass between two consecutive passes near our star.

Often referred to as “dirty snowballs”, comets they are different from asteroids because their chemical composition is mainly of volatile materials which sublimate when the comet approaches the Sun. It is at that point the two tails of the comets are born: one formed by these volatile elements that sublimate from the nucleus due to the action of the Sun, the other formed instead by the “dirt” of the nucleus, the dust that detaches due to the orbital dynamics of the comet. This gallery collects some of the most beautiful and interesting comets ever sighted and studied by humanity.