answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

We don't know. I've read estimates that Halley's Comet is probably large enough to survive another ten million years or so.

The problem, of course, is that a comet is like a "dirty snowball" in composition. Rocks and dust, loosely bound together by ice. While out in the depths of space, the snowball is perfectly stable. But when the comet approaches the Sun, the ice begins to vaporize and the vapor carries away some of the dust. This forms the tail of the comet.

With each approach, the comet becomes smaller and less stable. Some comets experience explosions, when a pocket of vaporized ice is trapped and then bursts carrying chunks of rock and dust away. We cannot predict when that will happen to Halley's Comet, but we know that someday, it WILL.

And comets do occasionally collide with things; things like Earth, or Mars, or Jupiter, or asteroids. A lot could happen.

User Avatar

Wiki User

14y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

76 years

Answer76 years AnswerIt depends how many years have passed since it last passed.

(EXAMPLE, If it was 2059 it would take about 2-3 years.)

The first 2 r right every 75 or 76 or mayebe 77 but the main anser is 76

for the kids who have to do research on this halley is a short comet

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

Halley's comet takes 76 years to orbit the Sun, so it is in the neighbourhood of Earth for about a year or so.

However, the comet was originally from the Oort Cloud, an enormous shell of icy debris where most comets come from, which stretches halfway to the nearest star. Nobody knows exactly where Halley's comet came from, but if it came from the outermost part of the Oort Cloud, it would have taken millions of years to fall inwards towards the planets. Once it swung around the Sun, it probably made a close pass by one of the giant planets, which altered its orbit from its previous millions-of-years long loop down to its current 76-year journey.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

It takes Halley's Comet 74 to 76 earth years to complete an orbit of the Sun.

It can be influenced by passing the large outer planets, so its revolutions are

not always the same duration.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

As the comet approaches the sun, it gets heated up, and its surface begins to turn into a gas (sublimates). The gas then escapes from the comet, and with enough force to blow away some dust and small rocks from the comet. This dust and gas is what makes the tail and also why the tail always points away from the sun (even when the comet is running from the sun, so the tail is in frount of the comet).

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

We can be pretty certain that Halley's Comet has been observed every 76 years since about the 3rd century BC, and there's no reason to believe that it hasn't been around for thousands of years before then. We really have no idea when Comet Halley's first pass was.

Looking forward, we can be pretty certain that its orbit is stable for the next few dozen passes; after that, there may be increasing call to remove this hazard to astrogation from the space lanes and place it in the Smithsonian.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

Generally for 8-10 months near perihelion, every 76 years or so. We can expect to see Halley's Comet in 2060 or so.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

Halleys comet is approxamatly 4.5 light hours from the earth

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

Halley's comet tail stretches for millions of miles!

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

It cannot be exactly defined but it is believed that the tail may well extend to beyond 100 million kilometers.

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What caused Halleys comet tail?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp