Editing Comets

[[File:Comet.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A Comet.]]

A [[Comets|comet]] is a celestial body, usually orbiting a star, composed of rock and ice. If a comet approaches close enough to a star, the increased heat causes it shed mass away from the star, creating a coma and/or "tail". 

One of the best known comets in the [[Sol]] system is Halley's Comet. (TNG: "Time's Arrow"; VOY: "Future's End") 

In June 2151, the [[Earth]] [[starship]] Enterprise NX-01 discovered the largest comet yet observed by humans. It was named for Enterprise's captain, Jonathan Archer. (ENT: "Breaking the Ice") 
 
.In the 22nd century, many comets in the Sol system were diverted to [[Mars]] by the [[Verteron Array]] for the Martian terraforming project. At one point, fourteen comets were scheduled to impact with Mars in a thirty-month span, starting with the arrival of comet Burke in January of 2155. (ENT: "Terra Prime") 

The comet Icarus IV in the [[Romulan Neutral Zone]] was the locus for part of the battle between the USS Enterprise and a [[Romulan]] [[Bird-of-Prey]] in 2266. (TOS: "Balance of Terror") 

The USS Enterprise-D tracked a rogue comet through Sector 1156 in 2370. Its core, composed largely of fortanium, proved to be a D'Arsay cultural archive, built over 78 million years previous. (TNG: "Masks") 

In 2371, the wormhole relay station experiment conducted by the USS Defiant in the [[Gamma Quadrant]] diverted a comet laden with silithium towards the [[Bajoran Wormhole]]. Some interpreted this comet as the "Sword of Stars", an element in Trakor's Third Prophecy. (DS9: "Destiny") 

In 2373, the USS Enterprise-E detected a class-2 comet while on patrol in the Romulan Neutral Zone. (Star Trek: First Contact) 

In 2377, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor undertook a mission to collect cometary bio-matter, so that the Doctor could create new medicines. (VOY: "Body and Soul") 

In the Sol system, many comets originate from the Oort cloud, a collection of ice, dust, and other debris particles that marks the outer boundary of the solar system. Other comets are known to come from the Kuiper belt.

[[Category:Science]]