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# comet

noun (a comet, comets)

«comet» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A comet is a ball of ice, dust and rock that travels around the Sun. When it comes close to the Sun, it heats up and makes a glowing cloud and a long bright tail that we can sometimes see in the night sky. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#m1)

### In the lessons

In science lessons on space, comets come from the cold outer parts of the solar system; their tail always points away from the Sun because of the solar wind. Halley's Comet comes back about every 76 years. Comets are different from meteors (shooting stars), which are tiny rocks burning up in our air, and asteroids, which are rocky. Phrases: «a comet's tail», «Halley's Comet», «comet sighting».

### Examples

- A comet has a long glowing tail. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x1)
- Halley's Comet comes near Earth about every 76 years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x2)
- The comet's tail points away from the Sun. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x3)
- We saw a comet through binoculars. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x4)
- Comets are made of ice, dust and rock. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x5)
- A comet is sometimes called a «dirty snowball». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x6)
- The comet will not be back for many years. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x7)
- Scientists landed a probe on a comet. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/#x8)

### Note

Countable. Myth: comets do not zoom across the sky like shooting stars — they move slowly and can be seen for days or weeks. Maths: if Halley's Comet returns every 76 years, a person usually sees it at most once or twice in a lifetime.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «comet» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/comet/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«comet» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/comet.html) on Mova free.