Long ago comets were understood by people to be a sword or as a symbol for death, while others thought it was the appearance of the head of a woman with streaming hair which symbolizes mourning. Comets have been blamed for bizarre occurrences ever since Halley's Comet inspired terror in Europe during 1066. Over time, scientists have progressed in finding the actual composition and structure of a comet, when a certain comet will come around again, and exactly where the comet will be in the sky when it does appear. However, individual's ideas have remained the same on the topic throughout time. Just a few years ago Comet Hale-Bopp was said to have an object behind it with extraterrestrials aboard. This false information led to a cult sacrificing themselves in hopes of being picked up by the aliens. Still the one question remains, what would we do if a comet were to collide with Earth?
             "Comets are lumps of ice and dust that periodically come into the center of the solar system from somewhere in outer reaches" (Randy Russell, 2004). Due to the appearance of a comet astronomers refer to it as a "dirty snowball." They typically move through the solar system in orbits ranging from a few years to several hundred thousand years. Comets are invisible unless they are near the Sun, this is due to the reaction with the solar wind which reflect light off the nucleus then creates two tails. The dust tail can reach up to 10 million km. long and is composed of small dust particles driven off the nucleus by escaping gases. The ion tail can reach several hundred million km. long and is made of plasma laced with rays from the solar wind. The tail always points away from the Sun due to its solar wind and light being sent radially pushing the particles the opposite way.
             A comet has three other distinct parts when seen near the sun. The nucleus is relatively solid containing mostly ice and gas with a small a...