1. Thought comet tails always trail behind them
2. Thought comets only have 1 tail
3. Thought that comet tails are permanent features
4. Thought comet gas tail points towards the Sun
5. Thought comet tails are solid tails like animal tails
6. Thought comets tails are illusory (not caused by particles)
7. Thought that a comet tail hitting the Earth would damage the planet like meteor impacts
8. Thought the Earth pulling on the comets created the comet's tail
9. Thought comet tails are fire
10. Thought comets have tails because they move fast
11. Thought comets have not tails
12. Thought comet tails always point in the direction the comet is moving
13. Thought comet tails are just light
1. Thought comets last forever
2. Thought comets last for a shorter time than they actually do
3. Thought comets are molten rock hurtling through space
4. Thought comets are rocky debris
5. Thought comets are composed entirely of gas
6. Thought comets only contain water ice
7. Thought comets came from asteroid belt
8. Thought comets are pulled out from Jupiter
9. Thought all comets eventually crash into the Earth
10. Thought comets shot by the Earth "in an instant"
11. Thought all comets orbit in the inner regions of the solar system
12. Thought there are many, many fewer comets than there actually are
13. Thought comets are more massive than they actually are
14. Thought comets are burning (and giving off their tails as gas)
15. Thought comets propel themselves like rockets
16. Thought Halley's comet will hit Earth
17. Thought Halley's comet is the only one we can ever see
18. Thought comet comas are smaller than they actually are
19. Thought comets are stars, "falling" stars or "shooting stars"
20. Thought comets and asteroids are the same kinds of objects
21. Thought comets are long strings of stars (falling stars drop from a comet)
22. Thought comets roamed between stars normally
23. Thought comets stay on fixed courses and do not orbit the Sun
24. Thought comets are not made mostly of ice
25. Thought a coma is a small comet
26. Thought comets are composed of metal
27. Thought comets did not leave any debris
28. Thought comets are free-floating, not orbiting the Sun
29. Thought comets are spherically distributed
30. Thought comets are all gas
31. Thought comets are clouds of burning gas
32. Thought comet atmospheres are smaller than they are
33. Thought comets are hot
34. Thought all comets have highly elliptical orbits
35. Thought are asteroids out of control
36. Thought comets formed near Pluto because beyond that point they would fall out of orbit around the Sun
37. Thought there was only one comet
38. Thought comets never return
39. Thought comets are frozen meteoroids
40. Thought Comets are dust from stars
41. Thought comets are burning stars
42. Thought comets are smaller than they are
43. Thought comets are exploding planets
44. Thought dinosaurs were killed by ice age, not comet impact
45. Thought dinosaurs killed each other off
46. Thought comets contain no ice
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