Re: Comets
Your both right. Heat is transferred away from the sun in the forms of direct energy and high energy particles.
The impact from the particles causes localised heating (think of it as little explosions or perhaps better, think of it as a missile hitting a target - the missile might be small and the target big, but it does transfer a lot of energy!). This heating is dependent on the local strength of the solar wind.
The direct energy from the Sun is gentler but constant. Light radiation interacting with the particles causes heating exactly like what ahppens every day on Earth.
Which of these two is dominant depends on how far from the sun you are (as direct energy tapers off via the inverse square law), and how strong the local solar wind is.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
