The Coma is the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet. It is formed when the comet passes close to the Sun.
A comet halo is a fuzzy, diffuse region of glowing gas and dust that surrounds the nucleus of a comet. It is typically visible when the comet is close to the sun and is heated, causing the gas and dust to glow and create a bright halo effect around the nucleus.
coma
Its the nebulous shock around the nucleus of the comet. Basically its the head of the comet.
The part of a comet around the nucleus is called the coma. It is a dense cloud of gas and dust that forms around the nucleus as the comet approaches the Sun and starts to heat up, creating a glowing halo.
the name
The sun creates a tail on a comet because of solar radiation and solar wind on the nucleus of the comet. A comet is an icy body that is seen when it passes close to the sun.
In 1986, the Giotto spacecraft flew within 400 miles of the nucleus of Halley's Comet. This close encounter provided valuable data and images of the comet's nucleus and helped scientists learn more about these cosmic objects.
Halley's comet's nucleus is the solid, icy core at the center of the comet. It is composed of frozen gases, dust, and rocky material, and is typically several kilometers in diameter. The nucleus is what forms the heart of the comet and serves as the source of the comet's activity when it approaches the Sun.
Near the sun: A cometary nucleus has a "corona" (a vapor outgassing of it's nucleus, up to a million times wider than the comet itself - this is what we see as the "head" of the comet), and one or several "tails". The "tail" we usually see is the vapor trail, but sometimes a secondary gas trail is also visible. Far from the sun, it is just the nucleus. Typically 3 to 10 kilometers wide, oddly shaped, like a potato or a peanut and, somewhat surprisingly , very dark in color, like soot.
coma
The three main parts of a comet are the Nucleus, the Coma, and the Tail. The nucleus is the comet itself. In deep space, the comet is frozen solid and almost invisible. As the comet approaches the sun, the Sun's light heats the nucleus of the comet and causes frozen gasses to melt or sublimate, forming a sort of atmosphere around the comet. This is the "Coma" of the comet. The sunlight causes the gasses around the comet to glow. But the gravity of the comet's nucleus isn't strong enough to hold on to an atmosphere, and the Sun's rays push the glowing gasses away from the nucleus, directly away from the Sun. This stream of glowing gas is the "tail" of the comet. It's important to note that the tail of a comet doesn't drag behind the nucleus; the "tail" goes straight from the nucleus away from the Sun, so the "tail" sometimes extends AHEAD of the comet. Because the material of the comet nucleus gets melted and loses mass every pass by the Sun, comets have a limited lifespan. At some point, each comet will break apart into pieces and disappear, leaving only a meteor shower in its wake.