SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -When far from the sun, a comet is like a stone rolling around the universe. But when it approaches the sun, the heat evaporates the comet’s gases, causing it to emit dust and microparticles (electrons and ions). These materials form a tail whose flow is affected by the sun’s radiation pressure.

Detailed explanation-2: -As the comet approaches the Sun, increasing outgassing rates cause the coma to expand, and the sunlight ionizes gases in the coma.

Detailed explanation-3: -Generally, a comet has two tails; the blue plasma tail and the red dust tail (or Type 1 (ion) tail and Type 2 (dust) tail). The plasma tail is caused by an interaction between the solar wind and the cometary plasma, while the dust tail is by the solar radiation pressure to the cometary dust.

Detailed explanation-4: -Coma. As a comet gets closer to the sun, the ice on the surface of the nucleus begins turning into a gas via a process called sublimation, forming a cloud around the comet known as the coma.