Comets
| |
year found |
closest distance from Sun (AU) |
time to orbit Sun (years) |
next or most recent pass by Sun |
inclination (degrees) |
| Arend-Roland |
1956 |
0.316 |
? |
? |
119.95 |
| Bennett |
1970 |
0.538 |
? |
? |
90.04 |
| Biela |
1772 |
0.861 |
6.62 |
? |
12.55 |
| Borrelly |
1904 |
1.358 |
6.68 |
2001 |
30.3 |
| Brorsen-Metcalf |
1847 |
0.479 |
70.6 |
2060 |
19.33 |
| Chiron |
1977 |
? |
51 |
2047 |
? |
|
Churyumov-Gerasimenko |
1969 |
1.29 |
6.57 |
2009 |
7.12 |
| d'Arrest |
1851 |
1.291 |
6.38 |
2001 |
19.43 |
| Donati |
1858 |
0.578 |
? |
? |
116.96 |
| Encke |
1786 |
0.341 |
3.31 |
2003 |
11.93 |
| Giacobini-Zinner |
1900 |
1.028 |
6.59 |
1999 |
31.88 |
| Grigg-Skjellerup |
1808 1902 (rediscovered) |
.989 |
5.09 |
? |
21.1 |
| Hale-Bopp |
1995 |
0.9143 |
4000 |
1997 |
? |
| Halley |
? |
0.587 |
76.09 |
2062 |
162.24 |
| Hyakutake |
1996 |
0.23 |
~30,000 |
~31,500 |
? |
| Ikeya-Seki |
1965 |
0.008 |
880 |
2845 |
141.86 |
IRAS-Araki- Alcock |
1983 |
0.991 |
? |
? |
73.25 |
| Kohoutek |
1973 |
0.142 |
? |
? |
14.31 |
| Lexell |
1770 |
0.674 |
5.60 |
? |
1.56 |
| Linear |
1999 |
0.762 |
? |
? |
149 |
| Morehouse |
1908 |
0.945 |
? |
? |
140.18 |
| Mrkos |
1957 |
0.355 |
? |
? |
93.94 |
Schwassmann- Wachmann 1 |
1908 |
5.448 |
15 |
2004 |
9.75 |
Schwassmann- Wachmann 3 |
1930 |
.937 |
5.36 |
2006 |
11.4 |
| Shoemaker-Levy 9 |
1993 |
collided with Jupiter in 1994 |
| Swift-Tuttle |
1862 |
0.963 |
120 |
? |
113.56 |
| Tempel 1 |
1867 |
1.5 |
5.51 |
2005 |
10.5 |
| Tempel 2 |
1873 |
1.381 |
5.29 |
1999 |
12.44 |
| West |
1976 |
0.197 |
? |
? |
43.07 |
| Wild 2 |
1978 |
1.583 |
6.39 |
2003 |
3.2 |
| Wirtanen |
1948 |
1.063 |
5.46 |
2013 |
11.7 |


Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
Our
online store includes fun
classroom activities for you and your students.
Issues of NESTA's quarterly journal, The Earth Scientist are also full of classroom activities on different topics in Earth and space science!
You might also be interested in:

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was discovered in 1969 by Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko. The comet orbits the Sun once every 6.57 years. Its orbit brings it closer to the Sun than Mars at the
...more
Comet Wild 2 is named after the scientist who discovered it. Paul Wild is an astronomer from Switzerland who discovered the comet in January 1978. Wild 2 is pronounced "Vilt 2". The comet orbits the Sun
...more
The Rosetta Mission was suppose to launch in January 2003. Unfortunately, the launch had to be delayed! The Rosetta spacecraft was suppose to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. A month ago, another Ariane
...more
Hale-Bopp continues to offer new surprises as two astronomers report of their study of the comet. Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Ultraviolet Explorer, the astronomers did a year-long
...more
Six spacecraft flew by Halley's comet in 1986. There were two spacecraft launched from Japan, Suisei and Sakigake, and two from the Soviet Union, Vega 1 & 2. One spacecraft, ICE, from the United States
...more
Comets are observed to go around the sun in a long period of time or a short period of time. Thus they are named "long-period" or "short-period" comets. One group of short-period comets, called the Jupiter
...more
Scientists have learned a great deal from the crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. Scientists traced the orbit of the comet backwards in time to guess its origin. The crash of a comet like Shoemaker-Levy 9
...more