The photo at left is the discovery image of a fuzzy object known as a comet. This comet was found with the Palomar 48-inch Samuel
Oschin Telescope and is known as 1993Q1 (Mueller). Many comets have been discovered and observed with Palomar
telescopes.
Comets are frozen balls of ices and dust. Typically they have long skinny orbits that carry them far from the Sun and then
back to the inner solar system. As a comet approaches the inner solar system the heat from the Sun vaporizes some of the
ices creating a cloud of gas and dust. This material is "blown" off of the comet by the solar wind creating the comet's
tail. The tail of the comet always points away from the Sun.
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