Here is more in depth information on the composition and surrounding properties:

This giant tail is actually part of Pluto’s atmosphere. Except that the bits of atmosphere are being stripped away by solar wind, a torrent of electrically charged particles that constantly pours out of the sun in all directions.

The New Horizons spacecraft haS actually flown through this ‘tail’

Because Pluto is such a tiny planet — it’s a fraction of a percent as massive as the Earth — its atmosphere escapes directly into space, Gladstone said.

Gladstone and others discovered the tail after examining data from the Solar Wind Around Pluto (SWAP) instrument on the New Horizons spacecraft. The device found an anomaly in the solar wind around the dwarf planet: A depression composed of nitrogen ions. This depression is the tail, and it extends an unknown length behind the planet.

This is absolutely fascinating and we can’t wait to find out more as they study more data from the Horizons spacecraft!

thanks to iflscience for the great info

thanks to yahoo news for the great info

thanks to Camille Gevaudan for the pic