Ion tail

Ion Tail
The well-developed tail structure of was captured in this image taken March 5, 1986. At this point in its orbit, Halley had recently passed on February 9, 1986 and was at its most active.

ion tail Thin stream of ionized gas that is pushed away from the head of a comet by the solar wind. It extends directly away from the Sun. Often referred to as a plasma tail.

ion tail
The straight tail of a comet which is generated by particles from the solar wind.

Ion Tail: A tail of charged gases (ions) always faces away from the sun because the solar wind (ions streaming from the sun at high velocities) pushes it away (it is also called the plasma tail).

ion tail - up to 100 million km long, it is composed of ions that interact with the solar wind.

Ion Tail
plasma laced with rays and streamers up to 100 million km long
caused by interactions with the solar wind
Hydrogen Cloud ...

The ion tail is formed as a result of the photoelectric effect of solar ultra-violet radiation acting on particles in the coma.

gas-ion tail
Lexell's Comet
Eugene Shoemaker, Carolyn Shoemaker, David Levy ...

As the nucleus begins to disintegrate, it also produces a trail of dust or dust tail in its orbital path and a gas or ion tail pointing away from the Sun.

ion tail (comet): one of the two tails of a comet made of ionized particles that points directly away from the Sun from the action of the solar wind. It has a bluish color from the emission lines mostly of ionized carbon monoxide.

Many comets have two tails, a gas tail (also called the ion tail) composed of ions blown out of the comet away from the Sun by the solar wind, and a dust tail composed of dust particles liberated from the nucleus as the ices are vaporized.

These include the gas tail (also called the ion tail), which is made up of material that is blown straight back by the solar wind. This is generally made of the really lightweight gases.

The solar wind of high-speed protons and electrons sweeps cometary ions in a direction away from the Sun, producing a straight plasma or ion tail. A second tail consisting of dust particles about a micrometer in size may appear.

The solar wind and the ion tail are both so rarefied that collisions between their particles hardly ever occur.

Every comet then really has two tails, a dust tail and an ion tail. If the comet is faint, only one or neither tail may be detectable, and the comet may appear just as a fuzzy blob of light, even in a big telescope.

hydrogen envelope - Hydrogen gas that surrounds the coma of the comet and trails along for millions of miles (it is usually between the ion tail and the dust tail).

At the same time, the ion tail, made of gases, always pointing directly away from the Sun, as this gas is more strongly affected by the solar wind than dust is, following magnetic field lines rather than an orbital trajectory.

The ion tail or plasma tail is formed when photons from the Sun ionise the gas in the coma. These ions follow the magnetic fields carried by the solar wind and so this tail usually appears pointing directly away from the Sun.

The ion tail of comet Hale-Bopp, which is comprised largely of charged particles as opposed to the heavier dust particles making up the dust tail, could possibly show complex structure or discontinuities, ...

The ion tail is much less massive, and is accelerated so greatly that it appears as a nearly straight line extending away from the comet opposite the Sun. Thus, comets should have two distinct tails.

Thus, relatively massive dust tails are accelerated slowly and tend to be curved. The ion tail is much less massive, and is accelerated so greatly that it appears as a nearly straight line extending away from the comet opposite the Sun.

The ions - electrically charged particles - interact with the sun's solar wind, causing a comet magnetotail that points away from the sun. The ions travel along the magnetic field lines, so the ion tail points away from the sun.

dust tail: up to 10 million km long composed of smoke-sized dust particles driven off the nucleus by escaping gases; this is the most prominent part of a comet to the unaided eye;
ion tail: as much as several hundred million km long composed ...

solar flares can cause auroras and disturb radio signals on earth; and a continuous stream of protons, electrons, and ions leaves the sun and moves out through the solar system, spiraling with the sun's rotation. This solar wind shapes the ion tails ...