What part of the sun shapes the comet into a shimmering tail?

Answer 1

Basically the evaporated gas of whatever the comet nucleus is made of. Often methane, ammonia, carbon mon- and di-oxide. A very good article is in the link below. However, due to relative motion and a few other forces, the tail is not all that straight.

Answer 2

Sometimes it does, when it gets near the Sun. The tail may in fact sometimes be larger than the distance from Earth to Sun.

Sometimes it does, when it gets near the Sun. The tail may in fact sometimes be larger than the distance from Earth to Sun.

Sometimes it does, when it gets near the Sun. The tail may in fact sometimes be larger than the distance from Earth to Sun.

Sometimes it does, when it gets near the Sun. The tail may in fact sometimes be larger than the distance from Earth to Sun.

Answer 3

The tail of a comet is largest when the comet is nearer to the Sun.

As a comet approaches the Sun, it develops an enormous tail of luminous material that extend for millions of kilometres from the head, away from the Sun.

The comet's ion tail is due to ionized gas from the comet's coma.

When the comet is far from the Sun, the nucleus is very cold and its material is frozen solid within the nucleus. When a comet approaches within a few AU of the Sun, the surface of the nucleus begins to warm, and the volatiles evaporate. The evaporated molecules boil off and carry small solid particles with them, forming the comet's coma of gas and dust. These are swept into the comet's tail.

(check the related link for an image)

Answer 4

Asteroids do not form tails, typically. They are dry, rocky material. Comets form tails when they get sufficiently close to the sun--generally within the orbit of Jupiter. The tail is formed by CO2, water vapor, and methane gas venting from within the comet as it heats up in the steady sunlight.

Answer 5

The wind you are referring to is solar wind.

These are the energized and charged particles that are expelled by the sun in every direction. It's not the kind of wind you experience here on earth.

These particles interact with our atmosphere to give us the northern and southern lights AND light up the dust tail of a comet. The comet's tail will always face away from the sun.

Answer 6

tail of comet is away from sun because whenever a comet is approaching sun, the solar winds from sun that is the high spped moving ions fron sun force the tail of comet to be oppositely oriented from the sun. Further comet is is travelling than either ice is melting or dust or any material that comet consist of experience force due to solar wind which keeps its tail way from the sun.

Answer 7

A comet, well out from the Sun, is a "dirty snowball"; a core that might be ice, or rock, or a mixture of ice and rock, probably covered with more ice and dust or gravel rocks. When it falls into the inner solar system and starts to get near the Sun, the heat of the Sun starts to melt the ice, and vaporize it into vapor. (There are lots of different ices; methane ice and ammonia ice and, yes, some water ice - all kinds!)

The energy from the Sun actually has a pressure; someday in the future, mankind may create "solar sailboats" and race them around the solar system like we race yachts in the ocean today. Arthur C. Clarke wrote a Science Fiction story about that, almost 55 years ago, which I read in Boy's Life magazine.)

The vapor carries the dust and gravel away from the core or "nucleus" of the comet, and is pushed away from the comet by light pressure. That's why the comet's tail always points away from the Sun.

Answer 8

As a comet comes nearer to the Sun, its temperature begins to rise. This can cause frozen gases to be released along with ice, dust, and rock. The solar wind blows these into a fan shape behind the comet. The light reflected from these particles gives the comet its "tail", providing a spectacular view when they come close enough to Earth.

(*Unless a comet is moving directly away from the Sun, the tail may be formed laterally, rather than along the direct path that the comet has taken.

Answer 9

Solar wind makes a comet's tail stream out behind it.

Answer 10

A comet's tail is made of the particles knocked off or melted off of the comet's surface by the Sun's rays.