Mercury has been spotted cosplaying as a comet recently when the sun's neighboring planet reached its nearest point to our star, exposing its massive, streaking tail in the night sky. One astrophotographer captured a truly epic shot of the charade.
Comets are orbiting chunks of frozen rocks, gases and dust that are almost always seen with distinctive twin tails trailing behind them — one made of gas that leaks from their interiors and another created by dust from their surfaces. These two tails are blown away from the comet in the same direction by charged particles from the sun known as solar wind.
