Comet


 * "Behold, a marvel in the darkness."
 * - Romulan Commander (2266)

A comet is a celestial body, usually orbiting a star, composed of rock and ice. If a comet approaches close enough to a star, the increased heat causes it shed mass away from the star, creating a coma and/or "tail".

One of the best known comets in the Sol system is Halley's Comet. 

In June 2151, the Earth starship discovered the largest comet yet observed by Humans, with a diameter of 82.6 kilometers. It was named Archer's Comet for Enterprise's captain, Jonathan Archer. 

In the 22nd century, many comets in the Sol system were diverted to Mars by the verteron array for the Martian terraforming project. At one point, fourteen comets were scheduled to impact with Mars in a thirty-month span, starting with the arrival of comet Burke in January of 2155. 

The comet Icarus IV in the Romulan Neutral Zone was the locus for part of the battle between the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and a Romulan Bird-of-Prey in 2266. 

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) tracked a rogue comet through Sector 1156 in 2370. Its core, composed largely of fortanium, proved to be a D'Arsay cultural archive, built over 87 million years previous. 

Commander Benjamin Sisko compared his name with a comet who will blaze across the stars long after Kira's petty treacheries will be forgotten while under the influence of the Saltah'na energy spheres. 

In 2371, the wormhole relay station experiment conducted by the USS Defiant (2370) in the Gamma Quadrant diverted a comet laden with silithium towards the Bajoran wormhole. Some interpreted this comet as the "Sword of Stars", an element in Trakor's Third Prophecy. 

In 2373, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) detected a class-2 comet while on patrol in the Romulan Neutral Zone. 

In late 2374, Jadzia Dax ran a spectral scan on a comet that was passing through the Denorios belt. She had waited three weeks for it to enter the belt. 

In 2377, Harry Kim, Seven of Nine, and The Doctor undertook a mission to collect cometary bio-matter, so that the Doctor could create new medicines.