That prospect turned me into a serious shopper for trip cancellation and interruption insurance (one policy usually covers both), a product I had always dismissed as a rip-off. Like other value-oriented consumers, I had seen no need to add several hundred dollarsâ worth of vacation insurance to the price of a vacation. Until that trip. Since then we have insured a couple of other trips, but never needed to make a claim. The only time we came close was in the wake of 9/11.
Comet Facts. Comets, like asteroids, are small celestial bodies that orbit the Sun. However, unlike asteroids, comets are composed primarily of frozen ammonia, methane or water, and contain only small amounts of rocky material. As a result of this composition comets have been given the nickname of dirty snowballs..
Comet tails get longer and more impressive as the comet gets closer to our Sun. As the comet approaches our Sun, it gets hotter and material is released more rapidly, producing a larger tail. Scientists estimate that a comet loses between 0.1 and 1 percent of its mass each time it orbits our Sun. What happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet? Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trail of dust and gas left by a comet along its elliptical orbit. The particles enter Earth's atmosphere and most burn up in a lively light show â a meteor shower.