Which term describes loose collections of ice, dust, and small rock particles that orbit the solar system and are seen as patches of light with long tails?

Which term describes loose collections of ice, dust, and small rock particles that orbit the solar system and are seen as patches of light with long tails?

• A. Tides
• B. Asteroids
• C. Meteoroids
• D. Comets

Answer: (D)

Comets are icy bodies that orbit the Sun. When they move into the inner solar system, heat causes the ice to sublimate and dust to escape, creating a glowing coma around the nucleus and a long tail that points away from the Sun. This combination—an object in space made of ice and dust with a visible coma and a sweeping tail—is why they appear as patches of light with long tails. The other terms describe different things: tides are oceanic gravitational effects, asteroids are rocky bodies mostly in the asteroid belt, and meteoroids are small fragments that burn up as meteors when they enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Comets are icy bodies that orbit the Sun. When they move into the inner solar system, heat causes the ice to sublimate and dust to escape, creating a glowing coma around the nucleus and a long tail that points away from the Sun. This combination—an object in space made of ice and dust with a visible coma and a sweeping tail—is why they appear as patches of light with long tails. The other terms describe different things: tides are oceanic gravitational effects, asteroids are rocky bodies mostly in the asteroid belt, and meteoroids are small fragments that burn up as meteors when they enter Earth’s atmosphere.