GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -The Short Answer: Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun. Best known for their long, streaming tails, these ancient objects are leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

Detailed explanation-2: -Because sunlight and solar wind always flow outward from our Sun’s surface, the tails always point away from our Sun no matter what direction the comet is moving in its orbit.

Detailed explanation-3: -Tail formation The streams of dust and gas thus released form a huge, extremely tenuous atmosphere around the comet called the coma, and the force exerted on the coma by the Sun’s radiation pressure and solar wind cause an enormous tail to form, which points away from the Sun.

Detailed explanation-4: -Comets often have a second tail called an ion tail (also called the plasma or gas tail). The ion tail is made of electrically charged gas molecules (carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water) that are pushed away from the nucleus by the solar wind.