COMETS

A comet is an icy body that releases gas or dust. They are often
compared to dirty snowballs, though recent research has led some
scientists to call them snowy dirtballs. Comets contain dust, ice,
carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Nov 15, 2014.
When passing close to the Sun, it heats up and begins to outgas,
displaying a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail.
These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the
solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet.
Comets leave a trail of debris behind them that can lead to meteor
showers on Earth. For instance, the Perseid meteor shower occurs
every year between August 9 and 13 when Earth passes through the
orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet.

Asteroids
An asteroid is a large rock in outer space that orbits the sun. Some can be very large, while
others are as small as a grain of sand. Due to their smaller size, asteroids do not have enough
gravity to pull themselves into the shape of a ball.
Asteroids are airless. If one of these giant rocks ends up on a collision course with Earth, we are
in for big trouble. An asteroid is like a comet. However, while comets are mostly made of ice,
asteroids are made up of rock or even metal.