question about comets

[f4lisa]

why are comets only visible from the Earth every few years?

[insane_alien]

because they spend most of their orbit outside the solar system and only start flaring inside the orbit of saturn.

[swansont]

Not sure I understand the context of your question. They need to be near the sun to be visible and they tend to have long orbital periods. And there are a finite number of them.

[f4lisa]

thank you!