How old are the oldest Comets?

Summary

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Who Smarted? – "How Old Are the Oldest Comets?"

Episode Date: December 15, 2025
Produced by: Atomic Entertainment / Starglow Media

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Episode Overview

In this episode of "Who Smarted?", the trusty narrator takes young learners on a cosmic journey to uncover the mysteries of comets: what they are, their ancient reputation as harbingers of doom, the science behind their formation, and just how old and plentiful they might be. Along the way, we meet historical figures, explore memorable comet encounters, and learn why you don’t need to fear a glowing tail in the night sky!

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Comets in Ancient Times – Awe and Fear

• The episode begins with an imaginative time travel exercise, placing listeners in a European countryside a thousand years ago, where spotting a comet could send villagers into panic.
• (03:00)

  “What have we done to deserve this? Does this mean there’ll be war? Or illness? Or famine or drought?”
  — Villager Worried

• For centuries, comets were seen as ominous signs or "bad omens," often linked with disasters and events like wars, famines, or even muddy mishaps.

2. What IS a Comet? – The Science

• Comets are described as "dirty snowballs"—chunks of rock mixed with ice, typically less than six miles wide.
• When far from the Sun, they're rocky and bland; as they approach the Sun, solar heat creates a glowing atmosphere (coma) and a long, shining tail.
• (05:35)

  “Comets are typically less than six miles wide and appear like many other jagged rocks in space … Mixed in are chunks of ice, which scientists believe were formed at the beginning of our solar system more than 4.5 billion years.”
  — Narrator

3. The Comet’s Hair – Ancient Naming and Observations

• The Greek word for comet means 'the hairy one,' referencing how comets look like a head with flowing hair (their tail).
• (04:48)

  “But it actually makes sense if you think of a comet as a person’s head with long, shimmering hair flowing out from it.”
  — Narrator

4. Historical Comet Sightings and Their Impact

• Comets have popped up before major historical events:
  • Julius Caesar’s death (44 BC)
  • Attila the Hun’s defeat
  • William the Conqueror’s invasion (1066 AD)
• These “signs” were sometimes claimed to predict good luck for victors, or doom for the defeated.
• Even Genghis Khan reportedly used a comet as inspiration to attack westward.
• (08:09)

  “Do you see that unusual star moving across the heavens? Its tail points to the west. That's where I must find conquer next. Warriors, attack!”
  — Genghis Khan

5. Edmund Halley and Scientific Breakthroughs

• The famous Halley’s Comet is discussed as a case study for how scientific observation replaced superstition.
• Edmund Halley never saw the comet now named after him, but he did deduce that historic sightings were the same comet, returning every ~76 years.
• (10:10)

  “Halley’s discovery was a breakthrough for science, as it proved most comets are space objects that revolve around the Sun.”
  — Narrator

• Halley’s Comet has had many historic returns, including at major world events.

6. Where Do Comets Come From, and How Many Are There?

• As of now, about 3,700 comets have been directly observed, but NASA estimates there could be billions, maybe even a trillion in the outer Oort Cloud.
• Comets originate in places far from the Sun:
  • Kuiper Belt (where Pluto is) — source of “short period” comets (orbital period < 200 years)
  • Oort Cloud — home to “long period” comets, which may take up to 30 million years to complete an orbit!
• (12:56)

  “If you guessed B, the Kuiper Belt, you’re correct. And if you guessed C, the Oort Cloud, you’re also right. Comets start off in these faraway regions, then are flung toward the Sun by the gravity of a passing star or planet.”
  — Narrator

7. Modern Comet Encounters

• The episode discusses the spectacular Hale-Bopp comet (1996-97), one of the brightest and most observed in history, and shares that new comets can still surprise us—like Comet Leonard, discovered just months before passing by.
• (14:55)

  “In fact, Hale Bopp is one of the most viewed comets ever. But since Hale Bopp travels through the Oort Cloud, it takes more than 4,000 years to go around the Sun, so there’s no chance you’ll see its return.”

8. Comet Naming Traditions

• Old comets are named after historical observers; modern ones are named after their discoverers (e.g., Leonard).
• (15:29)

  “Yeah, Leonard, after the person who discovered it. That’s how comets are named these days.”
  — Narrator

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• (03:16)

  “This is your fault. What do we do?”
  — Villager Worried, humorously blaming the protagonist for ‘summoning’ a comet

• (08:22)

  “That comet sure meant bad luck for the people in the West.”
  — Reporter, tongue-in-cheek after Genghis Khan’s ‘comet inspiration’

• (10:39)

  “All hail Halley’s Comet.”
  — Villager Child, celebratory cheer for science!

• (15:46)

  “Yeah, most people aren’t scared of comets anymore, but your tigers might freak them out a little.”
  — Narrator, keeping things lighthearted

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Timestamps for Essential Segments

• 01:25–03:14: Comets in ancient folklore and origins of fear
• 04:05–05:58: What is a comet? Structure, nickname “dirty snowball,” and why it has a tail
• 06:47–08:28: Famous historical comets and the events they ‘predicted’
• 08:28–10:41: Halley’s Comet, its discovery, and scientific significance
• 12:43–13:56: Where comets come from; distinctions between the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud
• 13:56–15:29: Modern comets (Hale-Bopp, Leonard), unpredictability, and brightness

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Language & Tone

Throughout the episode, the narrator mixes humor, interactive questions, sound effects, and playful dialogue to create an energetic and accessible learning environment. The tone is fun, irreverent, and reassuring—always making scientific facts memorable and exciting, while gently debunking old superstitions.

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Listener Takeaways

• Comets are ancient icy visitors, born billions of years ago and traveling for millennia.
• Though once feared, comets today are simply spectacular celestial events to observe with awe—not anxiety.
• Most comets remain undetected, waiting for gravity to send them on a journey toward our Sun, and potentially our sky.
• Modern science allows us not just to predict their return, but to study, visit, and perhaps name the next big comet!
• “So next time you see a strange light with a glowing tail in the sky, don’t panic—just look up and enjoy the show!”

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Perfect for: Kids, parents, and teachers eager to transform curiosity about space into laughs and lasting knowledge!

Transcript

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[Narrator]

Hey, smarty pants. Let's take a trip back in time, say a thousand years, to the European countryside. Imagine it's nighttime. Oh, and you've spent all day out in the fields tending to your sheep.

[Villager/Child]

I'm a shepherd with sheep. Boring.

[Narrator]

Fine. Fine. You spent all day tending to your tigers.

[Villager/Child]

That's better.

[Narrator]

You're heading back to the village when through the treetops, you notice something up in the sky. You race up a hill to get a better. You see it, A bright dot in the sky with a long glowing tail. Do you know what it is?

[Ice Ice Comet]

Ice. Ice. Comet.

[Narrator]

That's right, weird singer. It is just that. A beautiful comet. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. You sprint down to the village to tell everyone you don't want them to miss this dazzling object in the sky. You run to the center of town.

[Villager/Child]

And shout, look up in the sky. It's a comet.

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[Narrator]

Shout it out too. Let all the villagers know there's a comet.

[Villager/Child]

Look up in the sky. It's a comet. It's a comet.

[Narrator]

The villagers hear you and stick their heads out their windows or wander out of their homes into the streets. They hear your words. Look up at the sky and say, it's a comet.

[Villager/Child]

Run.

[Villager Worried]

Shut your windows, lock your doors, Hide your kids.

[Villager/Child]

What have we done to deserve this?

[Villager Worried]

Does this mean there'll be war? Or illness? Or famine or drought?

[Reporter]

Will it destroy our village or my home?

[Villager Child]

Will it make me fall in the mud again?

[Narrator]

Wow.

[Villager Child]

I fell again. Why, comet?

[Reporter]

Why?

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At this point, everyone's looking at you.

[Narrator]

Tiger Queen, and they're not happy.

[Villager Worried]

This is your fault. What do we do?

[Villager/Child]

Um, I don't know. I thought it looked kind of cool.

[Narrator]

And you'd be right. Comets are cool. Cool like a snowball. But a thousand years ago, people thought they were scary or a sign of bad things to come. So what exactly are comets? And why did people fear them so much? And when can you expect to see another bright one?

[Ice Ice Comet]

Comet?

[Narrator]

It's time for another whiff of science on who smarted?

[Reporter]

Who's smarted? Who's smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science or history? Listen up, everyone. We make smarting lots of fun. But who's smart?

[Narrator]

And question. Have you ever seen a comet, smartypants? If you haven't seen one in the sky yet, maybe you've seen a picture of one online or in a book or on TV. There's lots of great images of comets on NASA's website for free. These days it's a thrill to see a comet, since it's unlike anything else in the night sky. Comets look like bright stars with long tails. They've been studied since ancient times. People in China and the Middle east wrote about them more than 3,000 years ago. It was the ancient Greeks who came up with the word comet. Can you guess what it means? Is it A, A, the tailed one, B, the hairy one, or C, the cloudy one? Well, the answer is B, the hairy one. Huh? I know you're probably thinking that's crazy. Why would they compare a comet to someone with a lot of hair? Yes, well, but can someone help me shave my back? But it actually makes sense if you think of a comet as a person's head with long, shimmering hair flowing out from it. Of course, a comet doesn't actually have hair. Hair or a tail, for that matter. In fact, when a comet is far away from the sun, it's not very spectacular to look at at all. Comets are typically less than six miles wide and appear like many other jagged rocks in space. Similar to asteroids, however, comets are more than just rock. Mixed in are chunks of ice, which scientists believed were formed at the beginning of our solar system more than 4.5 billion years. People have Nicknamed comets Dirty Snowballs because of this ice and rock mix.

[Ice Ice Comet]

Ice Ice Comet.

[Narrator]

When a comet approaches the sun, it heats up and the ice turns into gas. The comet develops an atmosphere which is called a coma. This coma grows as it's hit by more sunlight and high speed particles from the sun called solar wind. The solar wind pushes at the comet's atmosphere, causing dust and gas to fly off, creating. What did you say? The comet's tail?

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[Narrator]

This glowing tail that resembles long flowing hair can stretch for millions of miles. Whoa. These days, everyone seems to get excited whenever a comet swoops by. But as you heard earlier, that wasn't always the case.

[Villager Child]

Why comet?

[Narrator]

Why? Like I said, comets were once seen as bad omens or a sign that awful things were about to happen. Perhaps that's because they appeared during some major Earth changing events. People claimed to see a comet in 44 BC, just before the great emperor of Rome, Julius Caesar was killed. Five hundred years later, another comet was recorded just before the powerful tribal leader Attila the Hun was defeated in battle. And about 600 years after that, a comet appeared in the sky just before William the Conqueror invaded England and toppled its ruler, King Harold ii. Of course, for the winners of these wars, the comet was a good sign. According to some accounts, the mighty Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan was inspired by a comet to expand his empire.

[Reporter]

This is Chet Dickerson reporting live from Mongolia with Genghis Khan. Genghis, you've conquered massive parts of China and Asia. What are you planning to do next?

[Genghis Khan]

I don't know. I'm tired. Maybe I'll take a break.

[Ice Ice Comet]

Ice Ice Comet.

[Genghis Khan]

Say, what's in the sky?

[Reporter]

Genghis is pointing up at the sky at a bright object with a large hair like tail.

[Genghis Khan]

Do you see that unusual star moving across the heavens? Its tail points to the west. That's where I must find conquer next. Warriors attack.

[Reporter]

That comet sure meant bad luck for the people in the West. Back to you, Narrator.

[Narrator]

Most historians say Genghis Khan probably would have attempted to conquer Europe regardless of whether or not he saw a comet. The truth is, a comet is just another space object. There's no proof that it brings good or bad luck. And that includes the most famous comet of them all. Huh, smarty pants? Can you name the most famous comet? It's probably the only comet you can name. Did you say Halley's Comet? And do you know why it's called Halley's Comet? Because it was discovered by an English astronomer named Edmund Halley. Halley was a brilliant man who made significant discoveries in the field of mathematics, meteorology, physics, and geophysics. He even invented the diving bell, allowing people to breathe underwater for long periods of time. The only thing he didn't do was ever see the comet that bears his name. Whoa. Nope. Never saw it. What he did do was notice reports of comets appearing at regular intervals. Hmm.

[Historian]

According to this written account, a comet appeared in the sky in 1531. And then there was another comet sighting in 1607. And some people reported seeing a comet in 1682.

[Reporter]

Hmm.

[Historian]

Give or take a few months. Those sightings are about 76 years apart. What if they were all the same comet? If so, the next sighting should be carry the one sometime in late 1758 or early 1759.

[Narrator]

Halley was right. The comet did return on Christmas night. 1758.

[Ice Ice Comet]

Ice Ice Comet.

[Narrator]

Halley's discovery was a breakthrough for science, as it proved most comets are space objects that revolve around the sun. Unfortunately, Halley died a few years before the comet's return in 1758. But other astronomers made sure that Halley's work would be not be forgotten and named the comet after him.

[Villager Child]

All hail Halley's Comet.

[Narrator]

Fun fact. Scholars later determined Halley's Comet was probably the same comet seen at the fall of Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror's invasion of England, and Genghis Khan's attack on Europe. Halley's Comet's most recent Visit came in 1986, and scientists from around the world used that opportunity to send up spacecraft to get a close look at it. But if you want to see it yourself, you're gonna have to wait, because Halley's Comet won't return until July 2061. Thankfully, you don't have to wait that long to see a comet. There are plenty of others, including some appearing soon. How soon? I'll tell you right after this quick break.

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[Narrator]

Now back to whosmarted. You now know comets are icy space objects and not warnings of bad luck. But how many comets are there? What do you think? 100?

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[Narrator]

More? As of now, there are about 3700 known comets. But NASA believes there could be more, as in billions more. So where exactly do comets come from? Hmm? Is it A, the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, B, the Kuiper Belt, where Pluto lives, or C, an even farther region of space called the Oort Cloud? If you guessed B, the Kuiper Belt, you're correct. And if you guessed C, the Oort Cloud, you're also right. Comets start off in these faraway regions, then are flung toward the sun by the gravity of a passing star or planet. As a comet heads towards the inner solar system, the Sun's gravity pulls it into orbit, and as it flies around, it makes repeat appearances in the Earth's sky. Most comets come from the Kuiper Belt and are called short period comets because they usually take 200 years or less to complete one orbit around the Sun. And Halley's Comet is one of those comets. The other group, called long period comets, could take as long as 30 million years to go around the Sun. These comets come from a cloud of icy objects known as the Oort cloud. It's about 100,000 times farther from the sun than Earth. Whoa. NASA believes the Oort Cloud may hold up to 1 trillion comets. One such Oort Cloud comet put on a spectacular show 25 years ago. Its name was Hale Bopp. No, not MBOP. Hale BOP. Did you know Hale Bopp's 1,000 times brighter than Halley's Comet? When it was discovered, people could see it in the night sky without telescopes OR instruments from 1996 to 1997.

[Villager/Child]

Amazing.

[Narrator]

In fact, Hale Bopp is one of the most viewed comets ever. But since Hale Bopp travels through the Oort Cloud, it takes more than 4,000 years to go around the sun, so there's no chance you'll see its return.

[Villager/Child]

Aw, I missed it. Will there be another one soon?

[Narrator]

The truth is, who knows? Hale Bopp was only discovered about a year before it first appeared in the night sky. So there could be other bright comets on the way that we don't even know about yet. In fact, one comet that was discovered in January will be visiting us this December. And the name of that comet is Leonard.

[Villager/Child]

Leonard?

[Narrator]

Yeah, Leonard, after the person who discovered it. That's how comets are named these days.

[Villager/Child]

What?

[Narrator]

It probably won't be as bright or easy to see as Halley or Hale Bop, but you might still be able to view it without a telescope. Be sure to watch the skies in December. And be sure to thank Leonard. Ooh.

[Villager/Child]

And I'll be sure to tell all the villagers.

[Narrator]

Yeah, most people aren't scared of comets anymore, but your tigers might freak them out a little.

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A super special shout out to Maddox.

[Narrator]

In Lake Charles, Louisiana. I hear you not only listen to Whosmarted every day, you even got your friends, family, and teacher to say subscribe. Wow. Talk about spreading the smarting. Thanks, Maddox. This episode, Comets, was written by Dave Halebot Bodri and voiced by Gia Davis, Jason Williams, Charlotte Cohen, Max Kamasky, Adam Tex Davis, Brandon Bayless and Jerry Colbert. Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn. Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room studios. Our associate producer is Max Kamasky. The theme song is by Brian Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis. Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.

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