most comets travel around the sun in very stretched out, oval orbits. think of it like a giant ellipse.

how comets orbit

most comets travel around the sun in very stretched out, oval orbits. think of it like a giant ellipse.

- *short-period comets*: these stay mostly in the outer solar system and come back every 20 to 200 years. halley's comet is one. it orbits every 76 years. they usually come from the kuiper belt.

- *long-period comets*: these take thousands to millions of years. they come from the oort cloud way far out. when they swing in, we get to see them for a bit, then they head back out.

as a comet gets close to the sun, heat turns its ice to gas and dust. that makes the glowing coma and the tail that always points away from the sun because of solar wind.

so yeah, they do orbit the sun just like planets, but their paths are way more extreme and tilted.