| Periodic Comet Names and Designations |
| Absolute magnitude (Comets) The magnitude of the comet at 1 AU for Y = 10, where Y is the photometric parameter giving the observed dependence of the magnitude on heliocentric distance, also designated H(10). |
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| Background image original work courtesy of and Copyright J. Weaver 1999 |
| 1P Halley 76.1 yrs 1986-02-09 0.587AU 17.94AU 0.967 162.2 deg 5.5 |
| 2P Encke 3.30 yrs 2003-12-28 0.340AU 2.21AU 0.847 11.8 deg 9.8 |
| This page last updated 12-06-08 |
| 9P Tempel 15.51 yrs 2005-07-07 1.500AU 3.12AU 0.159 10.5 deg 12.0 |
| 10P Borrelly 6.86 yrs 2001-09-04 1.258AU 3.86AU 0.264 30.3 deg 11.9 |
| 21P Giocobini-Zinner 6.52 yrs 1998-11-01 0.996AU 3.52AU 0.706 31.8 deg 9.0 |
| 26P Grigg- Skjellerup 5.09 yrs 1992-07-02 0.989AU 2.96AU 0.664 21.1 deg 12.5 |
| 27P Crommelin 27.89 yrs 1984-09-01 0.743AU 9.20AU 0.919 29.0 deg 12.0 |
| 45P Honda-Mrkos-Padjuskov 5.29 yrs 1997-12-05 0.528AU 3.08 0.825 4.3 deg 13.5 |
| AU Astronomical Unit = Average Distance from Earth to the Sun = 1 AU = appx. 92,960,000 miles |
| 46P Wirtanen 5.46 yrs 2013-10-21 1.063 AU 3.12 AU 0.652 11.7 deg 9.0 |
| 55P Temple -Tuttle 32.92 yrs 1998-02-28 0.982 AU 10.33 AU 0.906 162.5 deg 9.0 |
| 73P Schwassmann-Wachman 5.36 yrs 2006-06-02 0.937 AU 3.06 AU 0.694 11.4 deg 11.7 |
| 75P Kohoutek 6.24 yrs 1973-12-28 1.571 AU 3.40 AU 0.537 5.4 deg 12.1 |
| 76P West-Kohoutek-Ikemura 6.46 yrs 2000-06-01 1.596 AU 3.45 AU 0.540 30.5 deg 10.6 |
| 81P Wild 6.39 yrs 2003-09-25 1.583 AU 3.44 AU 0.540 3.2 deg 6.5 |
| 95P Chiron 50.7 yrs 1996-02-14 8.46 AU 13.7 AU 0.383 7 deg --- |
| 107P Wilson - Harrington 4.29 yrs 2001-03-26 1.000 AU 2.64 AU 0.623 2.8 deg 9.0 |
| ---- Hale - Bopp 4000 yrs 1997-03-31 0.914AU 2.50 AU 0.995 89.4 deg -1.0 |
| ---- Hyakutake ~40,000 yrs 1996-05-01 0.230 AU ~1165 AU 0.9998 124.9 deg --- |
| COMET INTRODUCTION
Includes comet components as well as a historical background, comet animation and views of comets. |
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| WINDOWS TO THE UNIVERSE...COMETS
A very comprehensive site that is KID FRIENDLY that offers information for the beginner, as well as the intermediate and advanced. |
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| STARDUST MISSION / JPL / NASA
On January 22, 2004 the STARDUST Spacecraft flew within 236 kilometers of Comet Wild 2 and captured thousands of particles for return back to Earth in January 2006. An amazing mission in progress with updates with countdown and current positions of Stardust as well as Comet Wild 2. |
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| Solar System Collisions
This is just way cool! Choose an asteroid or comet of the size and composition of your choice, send it hurtling toward your favorite planet and reap the data of your catastrophe! |
| Gary W. Kronk's Comets and Meteor Showers News and Information * Professional and amatuer observations * Historical research |
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| Perihelion The point in a comet's orbit that is closest to the Sun. |
| Perihelion date The date (and time) the comet reaches perihelion. |
| Perihelion distance The comet's distance from the Sun, expressed in Astronomical Units, at perihelion. |
| Eccentricity A value that defines the shape of an ellipse or planetary orbit; the ratio of the distance between the foci and the major axis. |
| Semimajor axis One-half of the longest dimension of an ellipse. |
| Kuiper Belt A field of icy, comet-like bodies residing extending from the orbit of Neptune out to about 7 billion miles (10 billion km) from the Sun. |
| Inclination The inclination of a planet's orbit is the angle between the plane of its orbit and the ecliptic. The inclination of a moon's orbit is the angle between the plane of its orbit and the plane of its primary equator. |
| Orbit The path of an object that is moving around a second object or point. |
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| Information on Selected Near Earth Objects
This list shows selected near Earth objects (NEO's) with close approaches to Earth in the past and to the year 2100. The probability of any of these objects hitting the Earth on these approaches is essentially zero. There are no known NEO's on a collision course with the Earth. There is a possibility that an as yet undiscovered large NEO may hit the Earth, but the probability of this happening over the next 100 years is extremely small. For comparison with the closest approach data, the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 0.0026 AU. |
| Comets are believed to come from a region of space known as the Kuiper Belt that resides in the icy realms of space beyond the planet Pluto. Below you will find crucial comet related definitions, a Table of Selected Period Comets, and links to excellent informational websites with orbit diagrams, images, observations, ongoing sample collections by NASA and a fact sheet of comets that are potentially hazardous to Earth. CLICK ON THE UPCOMING EVENT LINE FOR A COMET FACT sheet from NASA. |
| DEFINITIONS |
| TABLE OF SELECTED PERIOD COMETS |
| Comet Number and Name |
| Orbital Period |
| Date of Perihelion |
| Perihelion Distance |
| Semi-Major Axis |
| Eccentricity |
| Inclination |
| Magnitude |
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| Red box indicates current comet event in progress |
| Green box indicates next upcoming comet event |
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| This is it! the webpage that has every comet worth knowing about. The list of Periodic Comets was revised to make some corrections in January of 2006. This page IS the VERY latest official list published. |
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