SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -One is a plasma trail, which draws a straight line like a broomstick. The other is a dust tail, which opens like the bristles on a broom. The plasma tail comprises electrons and ions that are ionized by the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The dust tail consists of micrometer-scale particles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Comets have two tails because escaping gas and dust are influenced by the Sun in slightly different ways, and the tails point in slightly different directions. Gases escaping from the comet are ionized by the ultraviolet photons from the Sun.

Detailed explanation-3: -A combination of solar radiation pressure and solar wind blow away gas and dust from the comet’s nucleus, forming two separate tails: the ion tail and the dust tail.

Detailed explanation-4: -Alternatively known as the ‘ion tail’ or ‘plasma tail’, the gas tail of a comet generally starts to form somewhere around the orbit of Mars. Here, the Sun begins to heat the nucleus of the comet releasing gas and dust into a temporary atmosphere called the coma.

Detailed explanation-5: -Images of comets always seem to future extensive tails trailing behind the main comet body. But do comets always feature such tails? Most of the time, they don’t!