Comets

year
found		 closest distance
from Sun (AU)		 time to orbit
Sun (years)		 next or most recent
pass by Sun		 inclination
(degrees)		 orbital
eccentricity
Arend-Roland 1956 0.316 ? ? 119.95 1.000
Bennett 1970 0.538 ? ? 90.04 0.996
Biela 1772 0.861 6.62 ? 12.55 0.756
Borrelly 1904 1.358 6.68 2001 30.3 .624
Brorsen-Metcalf 1847 0.479 70.6 2060 19.33 0.972
Chiron 1977 ? 51 2047 ? ?
Churyumov-Gerasimenko 1969 1.29 6.57 2009 7.12 0.632
d'Arrest 1851 1.291 6.38 2001 19.43 0.625
Donati 1858 0.578 ? ? 116.96 0.996
Encke 1786 0.341 3.31 2003 11.93 0.846
Giacobini-Zinner 1900 1.028 6.59 1999 31.88 0.708
Grigg-Skjellerup 1808
1902 (rediscovered)		 .989 5.09 ? 21.1 0.644
Hale-Bopp 1995 0.9143 4000 1997 ? ?
Halley ? 0.587 76.09 2062 162.24 0.967
Hyakutake 1996 0.23 ~30,000 ~31,500 ? ?
Ikeya-Seki 1965 0.008 880 2845 141.86 1.000
IRAS-Araki-
Alcock		 1983 0.991 ? ? 73.25 0.990
Kohoutek 1973 0.142 ? ? 14.31 1.000
Lexell 1770 0.674 5.60 ? 1.56 0.786
Linear 1999 0.762 ? ? 149 .999
Morehouse 1908 0.945 ? ? 140.18 1.001
Mrkos 1957 0.355 ? ? 93.94 0.999
Schwassmann-
Wachmann 1		 1908 5.448 15 2004 9.75 0.105
Schwassmann-
Wachmann 3		 1930 .937 5.36 2006 11.4 .694
Shoemaker-Levy 9 1993 collided with Jupiter in 1994
Swift-Tuttle 1862 0.963 120 ? 113.56 0.960
Tempel 1 1867 1.5 5.51 2005 10.5 0.519
Tempel 2 1873 1.381 5.29 ? 12.44 0.545
West 1976 0.197 ? ? 43.07 1.000
Wild 2 1978 1.583 6.39 2003 3.2 0.540
Wirtanen 1948 1.063 5.46 2013 11.7 0.652

Last modified January 9, 2004 by Randy Russell.

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