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Halley’s Comet

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Credit: NASA/W. Liller (NSSDC) Public domain — NASA Media Usage Guidelines
COMET

Halley’s Comet

The most famous comet — the first periodic comet recognized; next perihelion 2061.

Also known as: 1P/Halley, Comet Halley
Orbits Sun
  • Only known short-period comet reliably visible to the naked eye from Earth u2014 a single observer can see it twice in a lifetime.
  • Last seen in 1986; next perihelion July 2061.
  • Source of the Eta Aquariid (May) and Orionid (October) meteor showers.
  • Visited by the Soviet Vega 1 & 2, Japanese Sakigake & Suisei, and ESA's Giotto in 1986.

Physical Properties

6 km
2.2e14 kg
52.8 h
0.04

Orbit

Sun
17.834 AU
0.96714
162.26°
0.586 AU
35.082 AU
75.32 yr

Sources & Further Reading

Numerical values (radius, mass, orbital elements, temperatures) are drawn from NASA NSSDC Planetary Fact Sheets, JPL Horizons, and the JPL Small-Body Database. Last refreshed: 2026-04-18 18:19:27.

1P/Halley is the most famous comet, observed by civilizations since at least 240 BCE and the first object ever recognized as a periodic comet. English astronomer Edmond Halley predicted in 1705 that the comets seen in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were the same object returning every ~76 years, and its recovery in 1758 (16 years after his death) confirmed the prediction. Halley was the first comet to be imaged up close: during its 1986 apparition, the Soviet Vega 1 & 2, Japanese Sakigake & Suisei, and ESA’s Giotto all flew past the nucleus. Giotto passed within 596 km and revealed a dark, 15 × 8 × 8 km potato-shaped nucleus emitting jets of gas and dust on the sunward side.