News : Comet arrives at the Vinton Public Library

Mark Brown a NASA Solar System Ambassador visited the Vinton Public Library

Mark Brown a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador visited the Vinton Public Library to talk about comets. He has worked for over 30 years in various science fields and has been sharing facts about space with students and children as part of the Ambassador Program.

He gave a presentation to the children about Comets, Vagabonds of the Solar System. He talked to the children explaining that the sun is the only star in our solar system whose energy radiates away in all directions. So when a comet circles the sun its energy forms the tail that we see on a comet.

A comet reflects the suns light while falling stars or "meteors" come from the tail of a comet. Comets are cold but as they get closer to the sun they warm up and release material. Made up from the leftovers of the solar system a comet is composed of ice, rock and dust, and has a fuzzy appearance.

He spoke about Halley's comet, shaped like a peanut, that was discovered by Edmond Halley who had discovered had a pattern to return every 76 ears so that it could be seen from earth. Mark your calendar it will return in 2061!

Deep Impact, a spacecraft made by NASA sent an 800 pound projectile to hit a comet so that it could observe the crater and the scientists could observe the dust that was disturbed (Comet Temple 1). After the impact the scientist couldn't see the crater immediately to study it. But after the dust settled, they could compare both before and after photos of the area. The impact caused an indention in the surface about the size of a football field.

With Brown's help, the children "cooked" up a comet. To see a video of the action happening and the ending results, click here! Photos A better video of a homemade comet on Mark's twitter account here can be seen.