Comet tails are created as the Sun melts volatile materials The US National Aeronautics and Space Agency [NASA] says one of its spacecraft has captured an image of a comet some scientists predict could provide the cosmic "light-show" of the century later this year.The image of the comet ISON, appearing as a bright, fuzzy ball of light moving against a star-filled background, was snapped by the space agency's Deep Impact probe from a distance of about 493 million miles, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California announced on Wednesday.
"This is the fourth comet on which we have performed science observations and the farthest point from Earth from which we've tried to transmit data on a comet," Tim Larson, Deep Impact project manager said.
ISON was discovered in September 2012 by two Russian astronomers, and NASA's Near-Earth Object Programme Office has since plotted its orbit and determined the comet is more than likely making it first-ever sweep through the inner solar system.
This suggests the comet's pristine surface has a higher probability of being laden with volatile material waiting for the Sun's energy to heat up and boil off, creating a comet "tail" that may provide a spectacular site from Earth as ISON passes close to the sun in November.

Source: UPI