Simple Comet Simulation

This is a simple visual tool demonstrating the basic behaviour of a comet.  The comet begins at a distance of 5 AU and is inactive.  At 4 AU, where comets become heated enough to begin to sublimate, a coma begins to form.  As the comet approaches the Sun, the coma extends into an blue ion tail and a pale yellow dust tail.  These tails always point anti-sunward, and the dust tail lags behind the comet owing to the larger particles that make up the dust tail moving significantly slower than the hydrogen and helium ions in the ion tail.  The ions are accelerated up to solar wind speeds (~400 km/s) rapidly and therefore appears straight rather than curved like the slower moving dust tail.