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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 ...
Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage [1] (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes used to mean any comet with a periodic orbit, even if greater than 200 years.
These comets come from the Kuiper belt and scattered disk, beyond the orbit of Pluto, with possible origins in the Oort cloud for many. For comets with an orbital period of over 1000 years (semi-major axis greater than ~100 AU), see the List of near-parabolic comets .
Some comets come around Earth with relative frequency — one known as Encke's Comet visits every 3.3 years. The famous Halley's Comet comes every 76 years. It was last visible from Earth in 1986 ...
Comet A3, or Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, is still visible in the Northern Hemisphere this weekend. The comet takes 80,000 years to orbit the sun, so Neanderthals were among the last people to see it.
On Wednesday, the comet made its closest approach to our sun and on Saturday, October 12 at 11:39 a.m. it will be just 43,911,824 miles from Earth (its closest pass).
Comet McNaught as the Great Comet of 2007. A great comet is a comet that becomes exceptionally bright. There is no official definition; often the term is attached to comets such as Halley's Comet, which during certain appearances are bright enough to be noticed by casual observers who are not looking for them, and become well known outside the astronomical community.
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 ...