Hello Gina,
You asked
>What determines the direction of the comet's tail in relation to the sun?
The bluish gas tail is pushed directly away from the Sun by the solar
wind. The yellowish dust tail keeps following the same orbit as the
comet's nucleus but is gradually pushed away from the Sun by sunlight.
Because of this the gas tail is straight and the dust tail is curved.
Best wishes,
-Neal.
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