What years has Halley's comet appeared?

Answer 1

Halley's comet was last seen in the year 1986. It is seen after every 75 to 76 years, having a relatively stable period affected by Jupiter and Saturn. It can be observed for three or four months before, and several months after its closest approach to the Sun.

It will next be visible to the naked eye in July 2061.

Answer 2

That date is lost in history. Pretty good sized comets come along every decade or so, and have since the time when the dinosaurs were the newest life form. In fact, if we could figure out when these strange apes that stood erect came along we'd have the answer within 10 years.

Meteors fall by the thousands every night. Without city lights to wash out the sky, we would see "falling stars" every night.

Answer 3

Applying Kepler's laws of planetary motion and Newton's law of gravitation, Sir Edmund Halley was the first to calculate the motion of a comet based on observations, showing that the comet moved in a closed, elliptical orbit of high eccentricity, had been previously observed, and predicting that it would return in 76 years. Although his prediction was born out, he did not live to see the comet when it returned. It was named "Halley's Comet" in honor of his work, and is due back again around the year 2061. Not all comets have closed orbits around the sun. Some move in hyperbolic orbits, visiting the inner solar system only once before they leave it and never return.

Answer 4

Several comets are observed every year. Not all of them are spectacular, or can even be seen with the naked eye.

Several comets are observed every year. Not all of them are spectacular, or can even be seen with the naked eye.

Several comets are observed every year. Not all of them are spectacular, or can even be seen with the naked eye.

Several comets are observed every year. Not all of them are spectacular, or can even be seen with the naked eye.

Answer 5

There are thousands of comet-hunters in their observatories every night hoping to discover the "next great comet". These things are not generally predictable.

Perhaps it will be tonight!

Answer 6

Halley's comet never orbits the Earth. It's in a highly elliptical (long and skinny) orbit

of the sun, that takes it far out among the outer planets, and brings it into the inner

solar system, in a cycle of 74 to 76 years. Like all comets, it's a relatively tiny body

compared to the planets, and it's visible to us only during the short part of its orbit

in the inner solar system. That last happened in 1986, and it's expected back in our

neighborhood around the year 2061.

Answer 7

In most years several comets are visible, though most of them are faint enough you have to be actively looking for them and have a telescope. Comets bright enough to be readily visible with the naked eye from a light-polluted urban area are less common.

Answer 8

The comet that we now call "Halley's Comet" has been observed dozens of times. The earliest recorded observation of this body was about 2500 years ago by Greek and Chinese astronomers.

Edmund Halley was the first person who recognized that many of the reported comet sightings in the old records were the SAME comet, coming by again and again. Based on his analysis, he predicted in 1705 that this comet would once again be visible in 1758. The comet was named in his honor.

Halley himself died in 1742, so he did not get to see his prediction verified.

Answer 9

Edmund Halley did not discover the comet but, he calculated its orbit in 1716 and its speed is about 27m per second

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Brittanica says that he showed in 1705 that three former comet sightings were actually one comet, and predicted its return in 1758. Before that, the comet was known, but no one knew it was the same comet coming each time, so it was definitely a discovery... just in a different way than discovering land. :)

Answer 10

From Wikipedia: The first person to visually observe comet Halley on its 1986 return was amateur astronomer Stephen James O'Meara on January 24, 1985. O'Meara used a home-built 24" telescope on top of Mauna Kea to detect the magnitude 19.6 comet.

As for the naked eye observing, it was Stephen Edberg (then serving as the Coordinator for Amateur Observations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and Charles Morris who were the first to observe Comet Halley with the naked eye in its 1986 apparition.