Yeah I knew they were regions more than points, I just sort of envisioned them as something more in the same of a tapered tail than something so tall compared the diameter of Jupiter.

I'd like to take the time to tell you that I really appreciate your contributions to this site. I'm always excited when there's a post about asteroids or something similarly sized in the solar system because I know that you'll post about it more often than not.

I've taken a course on the geology of the solar system and a course on exoplanet detection but I definitely consider myself a layman in this field. I've always had a particular fascination with these small tumbling rocks in our solar system so it's always a pleasure to see you talk about them and your work.

Thanks!

Here is a fun comet orbit for you: https://dahlend.github.io/ketev/#t=2018-02-08.9717&sel=P/202...

This guy had a close encounter with saturn in 2018 and his orbit dramatically changed. At the time he was likely a very cold object that had frozen volatile material (usually water and CO/CO2), The PANSTARRS telescope found him in 2023 after he started giving off material and becoming a comet.

Because he came so close to saturn, it is likely that the estimate of the orbit before this is not super precise, as orbital mechanics is a chaotic thing and small changes of initial conditions become huge changes later.