Concept information
Preferred term
Dirty snowball model
Definition
- A model for a cometary nucleus proposed by Fred Whipple (1950-51), according to which the nucleus is a solid body (a few kilometers across) made up of various ices (frozen water, methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen cyanide) in which dust is embedded. Dust particles are liberated when the ices vaporize as the comet approaches the Sun, and they get blown away by solar radiation pressure, often forming impressive, gently curved dust tails. (en)
Broader concept
- Comets (en)
Entry terms
- Dirty iceball model (en)
- Dirty snowball theory (en)
Editorial note
URI
http://astrothesaurus.org/uat/388
{{label}}
{{#each values }} {{! loop through ConceptPropertyValue objects }}
{{#if prefLabel }}
{{/if}}
{{/each}}
{{#if notation }}{{ notation }} {{/if}}{{ prefLabel }}
{{#ifDifferentLabelLang lang }} ({{ lang }}){{/ifDifferentLabelLang}}
{{#if vocabName }}
{{ vocabName }}
{{/if}}