Comet Hale-Bopp

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There are numerous comets orbiting through the inner solar system, but where this huge amount of objects comes from is largely unknown. Now astronomers have suggested that many short orbit comets could in fact be fragments of much larger objects that break up into multiple pieces as they enter the inner solar system and interact gravitationally with the planets.

Short-period comets originate in the Kuiper belt of objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune, most of which have orbital periods less than 200 years. Some of these objects will eventually interact gravitationally with one of the outer planets and will be pushed towards the central region of the solar system. But observations reveal that there are a few objects in the Kuiper belt that actually have vulnerable orbits which will eventually send them towards the Sun, and even the population of comets that we’ve mentioned above is very likely to be routinely cut down by the heat of the Sun and eventually ejected out of the solar system.
Read more: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Most-Comets-Could-be-Fragments-of-Larger-Objects-90868.shtml

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