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No. The tail of a comet is just dust and vapor blown away from the comet by the solar wind. It is visible only because it reflects the Sun's light. The closer the comet is to the Sun, the more vapor and dust will be released, and the longer the comet's tail will be.
It also depends on our viewing angle to the comet is. If the comet's tail is perpendicular to our line of sight, the comet tail will appear longer. If the comet's tail is pointed toward Earth or away from it, then the tail may appear very short or may not be visible at all.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoNo, they have a tail only when they are near the sun and there is enough heat. For the most part they just look like icy asteroids.
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What is a small icy body usually with an elliptical orbit and a tail when near to the sun?
The tail is not of light itself, but consists of icy particles (mostly gas) reflecting light from the sun. Such objects are known as comets. Comets that originate from the Kuiper Belt, a ring of dirty ice balls in orbit out beyond Neptune, are short period comets. They orbit the sun once a century or so, until all the ice and gas burn off and they probably become asteroids. Comets from much further out (the Oort Cloud) generally do not orbit in the plane of the solar system, and are usually long period comets. These orbit only once every few thousand years, sometimes only once per hundred thousand years or more.
Do comets or asteroids have a gas tail?
Comets!
What a heavenly body that has a head and a tailand orbit around the sun?
That sounds like the description of a comet. However, please note that comets ONLY have a tail when they are close to the Sun. During most of their orbit, they are too far away from the Sun to have a tail.
A small icy object that can have a tail 10 million km long?
These are comets. They are usually in very eccentric orbits around the sun, spending most of their time way out beyond the orbit of the outer planets. Here it is cold and they have no tails. They are also very difficult to detect here as they are quite dark, small and the distances are large. As they orbit closer to the sun the surface heats up, and the ice vapourises. Two tails are often formed, a gas tail which points directly away from the sun, effected by the solar wind, and a dust tail which is left behind in the path of the orbit.
What shapes the comets tail into a shimmering tail?
a ion tail or a dust tail
What are the icy object with the large tail that orbit the sun?
Comets
How does comet orbits and comets orbit?
in an elliptical (oval) orbit around the sun, with its tail pointing in the oposite direction of the sun.
What is a small icy body usually with an elliptical orbit and a tail when near to the sun?
The tail is not of light itself, but consists of icy particles (mostly gas) reflecting light from the sun. Such objects are known as comets. Comets that originate from the Kuiper Belt, a ring of dirty ice balls in orbit out beyond Neptune, are short period comets. They orbit the sun once a century or so, until all the ice and gas burn off and they probably become asteroids. Comets from much further out (the Oort Cloud) generally do not orbit in the plane of the solar system, and are usually long period comets. These orbit only once every few thousand years, sometimes only once per hundred thousand years or more.
Do comets or asteroids have a gas tail?
Comets!
What a heavenly body that has a head and a tailand orbit around the sun?
That sounds like the description of a comet. However, please note that comets ONLY have a tail when they are close to the Sun. During most of their orbit, they are too far away from the Sun to have a tail.
A small icy object that can have a tail 10 million km long?
These are comets. They are usually in very eccentric orbits around the sun, spending most of their time way out beyond the orbit of the outer planets. Here it is cold and they have no tails. They are also very difficult to detect here as they are quite dark, small and the distances are large. As they orbit closer to the sun the surface heats up, and the ice vapourises. Two tails are often formed, a gas tail which points directly away from the sun, effected by the solar wind, and a dust tail which is left behind in the path of the orbit.
How are comets asteroids and meteorites different?
Asteroids orbit the Sun between the orbits of the planet Mars and the planet Jupiter. Comets orbit the Sun on very elliptical orbits, originating from the Kuiper belt beyond the orbit of Neptune or the Oort cloud at the edges of the solar system. Comets are also usually (but not always) icy bodies that give of gas and dust (a tail) as they approach and get heated by the Sun. Meteorites are bodies that were Asteroids or Comets that have hit the planet Earth and landed on the surface.
What shapes the comets tail into a shimmering tail?
a ion tail or a dust tail
What is a comet and when are their tails visible?
It is a ball of ice. Comets have an irregular orbit. When they come near to the sun the ice melts an leave a tail of gas and liguid behind them.
A comet's ion tail always extends?
A comets ion or gas tail always extends away from the sun, as it is effected more by the solar wind from the sun. The dust tail follows the orbit of the comet, streaming behind the comet - where the comet has been.
What three things are comets made of?
Comets are made of mainly 3 parts -dust tail, ion tail and coma
What is a comets tail caused by?
A comets tail is pushed because of the solar wind.
