A comet wagged its tail as it flew past the sun

A gust of solar wind appeared to make a comet wiggle its tail as it passed close to the sun. More observations of this phenomenon could help astronomers learn more about space weather in the region close to our star, where it is hard to send probes.

Comets are small, icy objects that can be found whizzing around the solar system. As they zoom past Earth and approach the sun, their frozen bodies melt and release a stream of gas and dust known as a tail.

In September 2020, astronomers discovered Comet C/2020 S3, also called Erasmus, as it was…