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Comets: Mementos of Creation

Comets: Mementos of Creation
Comets: Mementos of Creation Comets are frequent visitors to the skies of Earth. Since we reside in the inner solar system, as these small bodies of ice and dust pass us by they are heated by the Sun and pummeled by the solar wind, sometimes forming spectacular tails that can stretch out millions of miles behind them. Comets may be clumps of matter left over from the creation of the solar system, so by studying them we learn about our own origins. Seen here Is Comet Ikeya-Seki, which graced our skies in 1965. Science Graphics