Comets, Asteroids and Meteors — What’s the difference?
Comet Neowise recently visited us and just last week the annual Perseid meteor shower graced our skies. Although, I was not able to see either of them because of clouds! Plus, an asteroid passed by close to Earth.
But what is the difference between comets, meteors and asteroids? Let’s start with comets, which have enthralled humanity for millennia. In the distant past, they seemed to appear unannounced and were a source of both fear and awe, and which people thought of as “long haired stars”. The word comet itself means long haired star in Greek. Up until the 16th century, their appearance was considered a bad omen, foretelling of disasters, plagues or even death of kings.
Chinese astronomers kept very detailed records of comets and they were also recorded in India, where, by the 6th century astronomers knew that they re-appeared periodically. The ancient Babylonians recorded the earliest observations of comets around 3,000 BC.
What are they? Far beyond Neptune, in the vicinity of Pluto, is a disc-like belt of icy bodies, which was first theorized by Gerard Kuiper in 1951. It is known as the Kuiper Belt.
