Is it true, that wherever a comet is, in it's orbit, and whatever direction it's travelling in, it's tail will always point away from the Sun? If so, why?
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ANSWERS: 3
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yes because of solar winds
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Yes this is true. This is due to the comet heating up as it comes near the closest part of it's orbit around the Sun, this helps break up the comet. The released dust/gas/etc from the comet is then swept behind the comet by the solar wind emitted by the sun. The solar wind is a constant stream of charged particles that is emitted by the Sun. The proof that it exists is the Aurorae in the North and South poles. These occur due to the magnetic fields of the earth funnelling them towards the magnetic poles of our planet where they interact with the atmosphere giving you the nice light show. The downside to this is that everytime we "see" a comets tail it's losing mass. While this is generally a very small fraction of it's total mass, it does mean they don't last forever and will eventually break up altogether.
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Actually, no this i not true. For much of a comet's orbit, it is to cold for the ices to sublime away. So, for this part of the comet's orbit it does not have a tail. However, when the comet moves close enough to the sun so that the ices from which it is made are able to sublime, then it will for a tail that will point away from the sun for the reasons described by Da ben dan and Carnivalius.
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