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Animation pulling back from the nucleus of a comet as it approaches the Sun, showing its two tails. Comets can develop two tails, a blue ion tail of gas and charged particles that always points directly way from the Sun as it is carried by the solar wind, and a yellower dust tail that also points away from the Sun as the material leaves the nucleus, but forms a curved tail as the comet continues on its orbit. Comets are small bodies of ice and rock that are remnants from the formation of the Solar System. A huge halo of potential comet nuclei exists in the outer Solar System. When one falls into the inner Solar System, radiation from the Sun boils off the ices, forming a huge coma of gas and dust around the comet. These can form into long tails, which can be large and bright enough to be visible to the naked eye