Karen Bourgeault, age 10,

What is a comet?

Once in a while, a bright comet swoops into our skies with its long train of golden tresses. Soon it goes away, but it returns on schedule time after time. For it is a member of the Solar System having a long,, thin orbit around the sun. Its yearly orbit may take five, ten or many hundreds of earth years. One end of the orbit takes the comet far, far away from the sun. The other end brings it close up to the sun, where it makes a U‑turn and goes back to chug around its lonely orbit.

For most of its orbit, the comet is a frozen bundle of dead, dark stones and ice, sometimes referred to as a dirty snowball. It shines with golden light only when it nears the sun .. and for a short while we see its razzle‑dazzle in our skies.