Why Don't Comets Ever Have a Green Tail?

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There’s no question that comets have been regarded as some of the most beautiful things in the night sky for thousands of years. But why are their heads often green but never their tails?

Hosted By: Reid Reimers

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Sources:
https://www.eso.org/public/events/astro-evt/hale-bopp/comet-history-1/
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comets/en/
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/c/Cometary+Gas+Tail
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/938361
https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/118/52/e2113315118.full.pdf

Image Sources:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lspn_comet_halley.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augsburger_Wunderzeichenbuch,_Folio_28.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_Hyakutake_by_Bill_Ingalls.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_Neowise;_July_2020.jpg
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comets/en/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_NEOWISE_over_Ayvalık_Islands_Nature_Park.jpg
https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/nasa-instrument-on-rosetta-makes-comet-atmosphere-discovery
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ultraviolet_Radiation_From_Hydrogen_Atoms_in_Coma_of_Comet_Hyakutake.png
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/51146589850
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/comets/en/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia21749-comet-illustration-animation
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augsburger_Wunderzeichenbuch,_Folio_52.jpg
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/c2-molecule-gm179236697-25467346
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/sky-full-of-stars-gm512250305-46845990
https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/acceleration-speed-motion-on-night-road-luminous-blurred-horizontal-lines-pink-and-gm1266830732-371489631
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/slac-dragonfly
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Comet_Hyakutake_from_Hubble.jpg
https://www.storyblocks.com/video/stock/the-falling-comet-on-the-starry-sky-background-hyper-lapse-sglqvgpxvkd58b6hm
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Augsburger_Wunderzeichenbuch,_Folio_70.jpg