4167days since Comet Elenin Perihelion (Point where it was nearest to the sun)
4151days since Comet Elenin Conjunction (Point where it will be directly between the earth and the sun)
4131days since Comet Elenin Perigee (Point where it will be closest to earth)
Past Comets
Past Comets
Haley’s
comet is the best known of the short period comets. These are comets having
orbital periods of less than 200 years. Haley’s comet is visible from Earth
every 75 to 76 years and for a short period it is clearly visible to the naked
eye. It has been observed and recorded at least as far back as since 249 BC.
Haley’s comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will next
appear in mid 2061.. During it's 1986 appearance, it was closely observed and
data collected by spacecraft. Haley was found to be composed of a mixture of
volatile ices, such as water, carbon dioxide and ammonia and dust. The largest
portion of the comet was composed of dusty, non-volatile materials, and that
only a small portion of it is icy. Comets all through history have been seen as
messengers from the gods, and mostly as punishments. They have been blamed from
everything from the Black Plague to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the
destruction of Pompeii. In 1910, when it was learned that the Earth would pass
though Haley’s comet tail, the doomsayers were out in force nearly causing a
panic in spite of the scientific communities reassurance to the contrary.
Numerous newspapers published the story that after passing through the comet's
tail, the Earth's atmosphere would not be breathable due to the gasses contained
in the comets tail. Some unscrupulous entrepreneurs even sold comet pill that
were suppose to counter the effects of the poisonous gas. The pill sold like
crazy, somewhere along the lines of duct tape being sold out in the resent past.
With every comet that approaches earth, a very big faction of the public has
labeled that comet, the “doomsday comet” with all kinds of predictions of mass
death on earth, (people can get caught up in hysteria, remember the Y2K
hysteria?) So far, few comets have been disastrous. Those I will discuss in my
next article. R. Singleton
P/Halley as taken March 8, 1986 by W. Liller from Easter Island.
Observation of Haley's Comet, recorded in Cuneiform on a clay tablet
between 22-28 September 164 BCE, Babylon, Iraq. British Museum, London.
BM 41462