Comet Ice Sublimation

As the comet nucleus swings toward the sun, absorbed solar radiation heats its surface ices (mostly water and CO2 frost) until they sublimate directly from solid to gas, blasting dust and ionized gas off the surface. Solar radiation pressure and the solar wind then sweep this material into a straight ion tail and a curved dust tail that always point away from the sun. This sim runs three CPU-simulated particle pools (ion, dust, sublimation jets) rendered as additive THREE.Points, spawned from a noise-displaced icosahedron nucleus and streamed into BufferGeometry each frame.

TechniqueCPU pools + Points
Ion tail max2,500 pts
Dust tail max2,500 pts
Jet particles800 pts
Nucleus detailIcosa L4
Ice flecks220 pts