T'Pol discovers that the comet contains Eisilium, a rare mineral which Vulcan chemists have not previously studied in detail.

Scientists know comets contain organic molecules, but it is not clear whether the molecules survive a millisecond of 7,300 degree heat as they are swept out of the meteor.

In this universe, however, space writhes and wrenches, its fabric strained; the comet contained in it shatters into a cloud of stone splinters, ice fragments and twinkling water-vapor snow.

Many scientists believe that comets contain complex carbon-based molecules and that comets crashing into the early Earth could have provided the building blocks for life.

Some freely-launched comets contain crossette breaks, which explode and break the comet into pieces to produce a branching effect.

Among the surprises was the discovery by astronomers at the James Clark Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii that the comet contains isocyanic acid.

They proposed that a meteor (from a comet containing the red particles) caused the sound and flash and when it disintegrated over Kerala it released the red particles which slowly fell to the ground.

However, astronomers were puzzled by the fact that comets normally contain some water, and, until Saturday, there had been no positive identification of water in the flashes of light emitted by the cometary impacts.

We immediately suspected that the comet contained a sizeable amount of solid material that is much larger than interstellar grains.

This implies that while the comets contain ices that formed at the edge of the solar system, the rocky materials that actually make up the bulk of a comet's mass actually formed in the hottest possible conditions.