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Periodic comets usually have elongated elliptical orbits, and usually return to the vicinity of the Sun after a number of decades. The official names of non-periodic comets begin with a "C"; the names of periodic comets begin with "P" or a number followed by "P". Comets that have been lost or disappeared have names with a "D". Comets whose ...
In nearly all cases, comets are named after their discoverers, but in a few cases such as 2P/Encke and 27P/Crommelin they were named for a person who calculated their orbits (the orbit computers). The long-term orbits of comets can be difficult to calculate due to errors in the known trajectory that can accumulate from perturbations from the ...
back to main list. In 1995, comet 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, broke up into several pieces and as of its last perihelion date, the pieces numbered at least 67 with 73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann C as the presumed original nucleus. Because of the enormous number, the pieces of it have been compiled into a separate list. [2]
This is a list of comets (bodies that travel in elliptical, parabolic, and sometimes hyperbolic orbits and display a tail behind them) listed by type. Comets are sorted into four categories: periodic comets (e.g. Halley's Comet), non-periodic comets (e.g. Comet Hale–Bopp), comets with no meaningful orbit (the Great Comet of 1106), and lost comets (), displayed as either P (periodic), C (non ...
In 2016, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) [2] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin, dated July 2016, [3] included a table of 125 stars comprising the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN (on 30 June and 20 July 2016) together with names of stars adopted by the IAU Executive Committee ...
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Lists of comets; List of meteor showers; Minor planets. List of minor planets. List of exceptional asteroids; List of minor planet moons; List of damocloids; List of centaurs (small Solar System bodies) List of trans-Neptunian objects; List of unnumbered minor planets; List of dwarf planets; List of possible dwarf planets
The appearance of a comet is called an apparition. Extinct comets that have passed close to the Sun many times have lost nearly all of their volatile ices and dust and may come to resemble small asteroids. [3] Asteroids are thought to have a different origin from comets, having formed inside the orbit of Jupiter rather than in the outer Solar ...