Which way does the comet tail go?
20 minutes · Paper · Pencil · Colored pencils
Your investigation
- Draw a Sun and an oval comet orbit with four marked comet positions.
- At each position, add an arrow pointing away from the Sun. Use these arrows as a simplified guide for tail direction.
- Draw separate arrows showing the comet’s direction of travel along its orbit.
- Circle a place where the tail would not simply trail behind the comet.
Think, draw, explain
Which arrows describe movement, and which describe tail direction?
Does a comet need air rushing past it to form a tail?
Grown-up guide & possible answers
- Orbit arrows show travel. The outward arrows show an approximate tail direction governed by solar effects; real dust tails can curve.
- No. Sunlight and solar wind act on released gas and dust in space. The tail is not caused by atmospheric wind like a flag on Earth.