Why does a comet have a tail? Detailed answer

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Why does a comet have a tail? Detailed answer

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Why does a comet have a tail?

If you look at a comet through a telescope, you can see that it has a "head" and a "tail". The "head" is a large cloud of glowing gas called the comet's epicenter. The epicenter can reach over 1 kilometers in diameter. These gases are so light that the solar winds blow them out. The "tail" of a comet is formed from gases carried back by the solar wind.

As a comet approaches the Sun, its "tail" gets bigger and bigger because the pressure of the solar winds increases. As the comet moves away from the Sun into the cold Universe, the pressure of the solar winds decreases, but still they continue to blow out the gases of the comet. For this reason, the "tail" of a comet is always directed away from the Sun.

At the epicenter of a comet, you can sometimes see a small, shining point of light. This point of light is called the nucleus of a comet. Astronomers believe that the core is a mixture of ice and dust particles, forming a ball up to 50 km in diameter. When revolving around the Sun, most comets move in elongated orbits. They are shaped like a long, thick cigar. It takes a comet thousands of years to complete one circle in its orbit.

Three or four times a century, a comet passes so close to the Sun that its bright, shining "tail" is easily visible from Earth. We can only observe a comet when it passes close to the Sun. The Sun then turns the comet's ice into gas. Radiation from the Sun passes through the gases and ionizes them, which causes the gases to glow.

Author: Likum A.

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