Halley

Halley — comet, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.

The comet that proved comets return. Recorded since 240 BC, painted into the Bayeux Tapestry, and waiting near the orbit of Neptune right now — scrub time to 2061 to watch it fall sunward and grow its tail.

Nucleus
~15 × 8 km
Period
~75 years
Last perihelion
February 1986
Next perihelion
28 July 2061
Visited
Giotto, Vega 1 & 2 (1986)
Designation
1P — the first periodic comet

Seeing Halley in real time

Cosmoscope puts Halley at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Halley is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Halley where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.

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