Question

1. Comets are often called “dirty snowballs”. In what way is this description appropriate for a comet? How is it different from an asteroid?

2. Many comets are found out in the Kuiper Belt, a ring of material out beyond the orbit of Neptune. Pluto is the largest of this collection. Eris, another member, is slightly smaller than Pluto, but slightly more massive. What does this imply about the composition of Eris, as compared to Pluto?

Answer 1

1. comets are composed of mainly ice, rock, dust and gases so it is often called dirty snowball

asteroid composed of rocky material and metals and comets composed of ice, rock, dust, and gases, also asteroids orbit much more close to the sun when compared with comets.

2. from the orbital analysis of dysnomia, the moon of Eris researchers estimated that the Eris is 27% massive than pluto. composition of pluto consist of mainly rock and ice, unfortunately, the knowlede of inner structure of eris is limited and it is found that its surface composed of ice mixed with nitrogen and frozen methane, and a rocky surface below.