Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigS
I mean, its hard to distinguish between, from either an origin, (or even a composition perspective), an Asteroid or a Comet, is it ?
Further, could I get away with saying that at the moment, the primary difference between a comet and an asteroid, is its orbit ?
Cheers
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Yes.
No, by definition, a comet will exhibit a coma at some point during it's life, an asteroid won't. An Asteroid that suddenly displays a coma will be reclassified.
Typically, we can classify certain orbits to be comet like but as stated by others, we don't know enough about the origins and evolution to make such a call.
Cheers