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Zoom Astronomy Comets

Introduction to Comets	Crossing a Comet's Orbit: Meteor Showers	Comet Origins	Major Comets	Acitvities, Web Links

SOME MAJOR COMETS

HALLEY'S COMET
Halley's comet is a periodic comet (made of frozen gas and dust), that orbits around the sun. Its earliest-recorded sighting was in 240 B.C. in China, but Edmund Halley was the first person to recognize that it was periodic. It was last seen in 1986 and will be seen next in the year 2061; its period is 76 years. When the Earth passes through Halley's comet's orbit (twice each year), its detritus causes the meteor showers the Eta Aquarids and the Orionids.

SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9

An SL-9 impact site on Jupiter, July 6, 1994. Photo by Hubble Space Telescope.

Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL-9) was a short-period comet that was discovered by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David H. Levy. As the comet passed close by Jupiter, Jupiter's gravitational forces broke the comet apart . Fragments of the comet collided with Jupiter for six days during July, 1994, causing huge fireballs in Jupiter's atmosphere that were visible from Earth.

COMET LINEAR
Comet LINEAR [designated C/1999 S4 (LINEAR)] was a comet that broke apart when it approached the Sun. The comet's icy core disintegrated as it passed close to the Sun (its perihelion) in July 2000. The Sun's intense heat had more to do with this comet's break-up than the Sun's gravitational forces.

HALE-BOPP COMET
Hale Bopp (designated C/1995 O1) is a periodic comet that orbits around the sun. Its earliest-recorded sighting was on July 23, 1995. It was independently discovered by Alan Hale (of New Mexico) and Thomas Bopp (of Arizona), both amateur astronomers. This comet has a diameter of about 40 km; it's rotation rate is 11.4 hours. It was last seen in 1997 and will be seen next in the year 4377; its period is 2380 years.

SOME COMETS
About 600 comets have been observed. About a dozen comets are discovered each year. Most comets have very long periods (over 200 years).

A Few Comets	Discovered	Last Visit	Next Visit	Period (years)
Biela	1772	1852	broken up	6.62
Encke	1786	1997	2000	3.28
Faye	1843	1991	1999	7.34
Hale-Bopp	July 23, 1995	1997	4377	2380
Halley	240 B.C.	1986	2061	76.00
Hyakutake	January 30, 1996	1996	31,496	29,500
Kohoutek	March 7, 1973	1973	76,973	75,000
Swift-Tuttle aka Kegler (responsible for the Perseids meteor shower)	July 16, 1862 (Kegler first seen in 1737)	1992	2126	about 130
Wild 2/Comet 81P	January 6, 1978 (by Paul Wild)	-	-	6.39 years

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