quote:
Originally posted by Growltigga:
not sure this is striclty correct, the rotational period of an orbital body depends on too many variants to generalise
<everybody reaches for their boys' book of astronomical information>
Not really: The gravitational attraction is determined by the mass of the 2 objects (the sun/star and the comet) and the distance between them, and the only other relevant information would be the current speed/direction of the comet. I don't have the formulas in front of me, but that should be enough to determine the orbit/period.
The only thing special about a comet is that it tends to be a fairly small (low mass) object, it tends to have an extremely elliptical orbit (as opposed to nearly circular like Earth's), and it puts out a cool trail when it comes near the sun so it's easy to see. The formulas should all work the same for planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and even manmade sattelites.
Re: Comets
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