Question

The tail of a comet always points
A. Towards the sun
B. Away from the sun
C. Towards north-east
D. Towards south west

Answer 1

Hint: Comets are composed of many things which can also be volatile. The solar radiations vaporize the volatile materials. This vapor mixed with dust streams out of the nucleus of the comet giving the comet a tail. Sun's radiation pressure pushes this tail away from itself.

Complete step-by-step solution
The 'Dirty Snowballs' of Space are often referred to as Comets. They are small, frozen objects that in space emit dust or gas and orbit the Sun. The time it takes for a comet to complete an orbit is known as the period of a comet. Comet seasons vary from a couple of years to millions of years. They are composed of ashes, ice, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, ammonia, etc. A comet's building block is fragments of dust covered with water ice and other molecules. These dust particles combine to form ice rocks which, under the force of gravity, bind together.
Comet moves around the sun in an elliptical path. This motion is due to two main forces.
(a)Centrifugal forces- A force that emerges from the inertia of the comet, which tends to work in a circular direction on a comet and is guided away from the sun around which the comet is travelling.
(b)Centripetal forces- A force that works in a circular direction on a comet and is directed towards the sun around which the comet is passing.
By interaction with either the solar wind or sunlight photons, comet tails are formed. This implies that they always point away from the direction of the Sun and thereby guide the comet into its orbit after perihelion.

Hence the correct option is Option(B) which is away from the sun.

Note
As this is a fact-based question so you need to know about the mechanism of formation of comet and comet’s tail otherwise you cannot get the correct answer.