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dust tail

   Also found in: Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.05 sec.
dust tail [′dəst ‚tāl]
(astronomy)
A comet tail that consists of particles, typically 1 micrometer in diameter and primarily silicate in composition, and is usually curved with a length in the range from 106to 107kilometers.


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As well as flaunting two dust tails, it sported a ghostly bluish-white stream of charged particles, extending a third of the way across the sky (SN: 6/1/96, p.
It's also spouting geysers of gas, and its twin gas and dust tails stretch for some 30 million miles.
But some comets, like Hale-Bopp, also have a dust tail Because this trail of rock and dust reflects lots of sunlight, dust tails are highly visible.
 
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