Comet appears in sky for first time in 50,000 years, sprouts third tail unexpectedly – WRAL

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is brightening as expected, but it’s also done something unexpected. The comet has sprouted a third tail.The comet made its first appearance in 50,000 years earlier this month.As comets enter the inner solar system, their frozen surfaces begin to vaporize, bringing along dust and gasses like methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide and even water vapor, in streams that create a very thin atmosphere around the comet called the coma.Outward pressure from the sun in the form of radiation and solar winds strips that gas and dust, creating a tail which can grow millions of miles in length. This primary tail usually glows a faint light green or gray.Somewhere around the orbit of Mars, the amount of ultraviolet light reaching the comet increases, ionizing any carbon monoxide in the coma, often creating a second blue tail. That ion tail points directly away from the sun as those newly charged particles follow the magnetic path of the solar winds.Comet ZTF’s rare “anti-tail” points toward the sun. This third tail is made up of larger, neutral particles, but they aren’t actually streaming toward the sun.This is an optical illusion, created as we cross the comet’s orbit from our viewing position
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