> The tail of a comet points in which direction?And the answer: away from the sun. Comets are made up of ice, dust, and frozen gases. As the comet travels throughthe inner solar system and gets closer to the sun, heat and solar wind cause thegases and dust to burn, creating the comet's tail that forms away from the sun.Photo credit: public domain.Humans have watched comets [https://www.askqotd.com/all-about-comets/] raceacross the night sky for as long as we've walked the Earth. Comets have occupieda place in lore, mythology, spiritual beliefs and even religion. Contrary topopular belief, though, a shooting star refers to meteors, which shine for meremoments before they turn to ash in the Earth's atmosphere. Comets, in contrast,burn across the night sky millions of miles from Earth's atmosphere, travelingalong the orbit of the sun. It is for this reason that we can name and recognizecomets which return after years or decades. Halley's Comet, for one, famouslyreturns to Earth's vicinity every 75 years. A comet's lifespan can be thousands of years – a relatively short cycleconsidering the longevity of our universe. Scientists believe there are tworegions of the solar system that produce comets. The first is the Kuiper Belt,which is a band of comets not unlike the Asteroid Belt. Comets from this regionhave shorter lifespans, and orbit the sun on roughly the same plane as ourplanets. The other is the Oort Cloud, which is farther out in the solar system.Comets from the Oort Cloud have much longer orbital periods, and can orbit at adrastic incline in relation to the other planets. Learn more about the lifespan of comets here[https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/overview/?page=0&per_page=40&order=name+asc&search=&condition_1=102%3Aparent_id&condition_2=comet%3Abody_type%3Ailike].