comet

comet — noun

1. A comet is a frozen ball of dust that circles the Sun. When the Sun warms its su

1.名詞A2
釋義

A comet is a frozen ball of dust that circles the Sun. When the Sun warms its surface, the ice turns to gas and creates a long bright tail.

例句

Last night, Yara and her father watched a bright comet through their backyard telescope.

collocation: bright comet + watched through telescope

The old book contained drawings of a comet that appeared in the year 1066.

comet + appeared in [year] — historical record pattern

同義詞
  • asteroid

    similar in being a body that orbits the Sun, but an asteroid is made of rock or metal and has no tail

  • meteoroid

    a much smaller piece of rock or metal in space; a meteoroid becomes a 'meteor' when it burns up in Earth's atmosphere

文法句型

comet + verb (appears, passes, orbits, develops)

用法筆記

Distinguish from 'asteroid': a comet is mainly ice and dust and develops a visible tail near the Sun, while an asteroid is mainly rock or metal and does not produce a tail. The word is countable — you can say 'a comet', 'two comets', 'the comet'.

常見錯誤

❌I saw a comet star in the sky last night.
✅I saw a comet in the sky last night.
💡A comet is not a type of star; it is an icy body that orbits the Sun.
❌There was a falling comet.
✅There was a shooting star / a meteor.
💡Comets do not 'fall' to Earth; the bright flash you see fall is a meteor, not a comet.