04. Do comets have any water? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Comets are small planetisimals that did not form into planets but are still orbiting the Sun. We have all heard of a comet's tail? Well, comets are mostly an icy core surrounded by a cloud of ice crystals and water vapor. When a comet gets close enough to the Sun for the Sun to ignite the vapor, we see a trail glowing behind the comet that looks like a tail. If we captured a comet and cut it open, it would most likely be just a great big ball of dirty ice. Some water in planetary atmospheres is possibly deposited there by comets falling into or passing through their atmospheres.

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Answer provided by Joe Rhemann

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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