Comets

When comets reach the more intense sunlight of the Solar System, the ices in the nucleus of the comet begin to vaporize and fall away from the comet (NASA, 2006). The gases which evolve as the ice is vaporized form a delicate atmosphere around the comet's nucleus called a coma, and the dust which was in the nucleus previously forms the tail of the comet that can be thousands of miles long and is sometimes visible from Earth. Comets are thought to have struck the Earth billions of years ago and caused major changes in Earth's early oceans, atmosphere and climate, and they may have brought to Earth the first carbon-based molecules, triggering the origins of life.

In 1994, the Hubble telescope recorded a large comet named P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacting on Jupiter (Armageddon, 2006). As the comet entered Jupiter's atmosphere, the temperature reached over 20,000 degrees. Fireballs from the impact were sent thousands of miles into space. Had it impact

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before or simultaneously with brilliant meteor fireballs up to 100 km away. People also reported seeing unusual auroras and sky glows in the days before the impact, which would have been caused by electrical effects. Each comet and planet in the solar system has an electrical plasma sheath, and when the sheaths of two bodies "see" each other for the first time, the electrical effect takes the form of unusual auroral displays (The Tunguska, 2006). They are seen before the comet nucleus enters the stratosphere and they reflect sunlight long after sunset. The solar system is electrical and electrical currents flowing between the solar plasma and the planets are the main factors driving the Earth's weather patterns (The Tunguska, 2006). The most violent winds occur on planets most distant from the Sun where solar heating is negligible. Neptune, which is ice-cold, has winds reaching 2,000 km/hr, so any electrical perturbation as caused by a comet would cause unusual weather days before the impact, which was reported. People also reported unusual seismic activity prior to the impact. Minor electrical disturbances of the Earth from a charged body approaching could trigger earthquakes just as sunspot activity does. Pro
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