comet

com·et  (kmt)

n.

A celestial body, observed only in that part of its orbit that is relatively close to the sun, having a head consisting of a solid nucleus surrounded by a nebulous coma up to 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) in diameter and an elongated curved vapor tail arising from the coma when sufficiently close to the sun. Comets are thought to consist chiefly of ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide, and water.

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[Middle English comete, from Old English comta, from Late Latin, from Latin comts, from Greek komts, long-haired (star), comet, from kom, hair.]

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comet·ary (--tr), co·metic (k-mtk) adj.

Word History: Comets have been feared throughout much of human history, and even in our own time their goings and comings receive great attention. Perhaps a comet might seem less awesome if we realized that our name for it is based on a figurative resemblance between it and humans. This figurative name is recorded first in the works of Aristotle, in which he uses kom, the Greek word for "hair of the head," to mean "luminous tail of a comet." Aristotle then uses the derived word komts, "wearing long hair," as a noun meaning "comet." The Greek word was adopted into Latin as comts, which was refashioned in Late Latin and given the form comta, furnishing Old English with comta, the earliest English ancestor of our word comet.

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comet

Noun

a heavenly body that travels round the sun, leaving a long bright trail behind it [Greek komētēs long-haired]

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comet  (kmt)

A celestial object that orbits the Sun along an elongated path. A comet that is not near the Sun consists only of a nucleusa solid core of frozen water, frozen gases, and dust. When a comet comes close to the Sun, its nucleus heats up and releases a gaseous coma that surrounds the nucleus. A comet forms a tail when solar heat or wind forces dust or gas off its coma, with the tail always streaming away from the Sun. Short-period comets have orbital periods of less than 200 years and come from the region known as the Kuiper belt. Long-period comets have periods greater than 200 years and come from the Oort cloud. See more at Kuiper beltOort cloud See Note at solar system.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

comet - (astronomy) a relatively small extraterrestrial body consisting of a frozen mass that travels around the sun in a highly elliptical orbit astronomy, uranology - the branch of physics that studies celestial bodies and the universe as a whole coma - (astronomy) the luminous cloud of particles surrounding the frozen nucleus of a comet; forms as the comet approaches the sun and is warmed estraterrestrial body, extraterrestrial object - a natural object existing outside the earth and outside the earth's atmosphere nucleus - (astronomy) the center of the head of a comet; consists of small solid particles of ice and frozen gas that vaporizes on approaching the sun to form the coma and tail

Translations

comet [ˈkɔmɪt] n → cometa m

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comet [ˈkɔmɪt] n → comète f

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comet [ˈkɔmɪt] n → Komet m

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comet [ˈkɔmɪt] n → cometa