Halley's Comet

Also known as Comet Halley, 1P/Halley

short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years

AI overview

Halley's Comet is a comet that can be seen from Earth roughly every 75 to 76 years as it passes through our part of the solar system. It matters because its regular, predictable returns have made it one of the most famous and historically significant comets, allowing people across generations to witness the same cosmic visitor.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Instance of: near-Earth object
Named after: Edmond Halley
Parent body: Sun
Child body: Eta Aquariids
Diameter: 11
Mass: 220
Orbital period: 27728.04608790421
Image: Lspn comet halley.jpg
Significant event: flyby

Show 20 more facts

Commons category: Comet Halley
topic's main category: Category:Halley's Comet
discoverer or inventor: Edmond Halley
albedo: 0.04
density: 850
different from: Halley
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
provisional designation: 1910 II
absolute magnitude: 5.5
time of discovery or invention: 1758-12-25
site of astronomical discovery: Ancient Greece
orbital eccentricity: 0.9679359956953211
semi-major axis of an orbit: 17.92863504856923
periapsis: 0.5748638313743413
apoapsis: 35.28240626576412
orbital inclination: 162.1905300439129
longitude of ascending node: 59.09894720612437
argument of periapsis: 112.2414314637764
mean anomaly: 274.3823371366792
time of periapsis: 2446469.9736161465

Sources (10)

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Encyclopedic overview

Halley's Comet is the only known short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing roughly every 75–76 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after 75–77 years. It last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061. Officially designated 1P/Halley, it is also commonly called Comet Halley, or sometimes simply Halley.

Halley's periodic returns to the inner Solar System have been observed and recorded by astronomers around the world since at least 240 BC, but it was not until 1705 that the English astronomer Edmond Halley understood that these appearances were re-appearances of the same comet. As a result of this discovery, the comet is named after Halley.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Halley's Comet” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.