Visible comets like Halley's differ from the great majority of comets in th
at they exist in adjacent pieces in gentle motion with respect to each othe
r. From time to time the pieces rub together, causing a dusty surface which
otherwise would be very dark and difficult to observe to be temporarily sw
ept clean. The cleansed patches are then subject to evaporation, so making
such multinuclear comets visible. unlike the majority of comets which have
single nuclei and which stay dark. The existence of a large number of dark
comets could have an interesting relation to the past history of the Earth.