Everything You Need to Know About Halley’s Comet: Facts, Orbits, and Meteor Showers

SPIRIT – The famous comet 1P / Halley – also known as Halley’s Comet passes through the inner solar system approximately once every 76 years. As it passes through the inner solar system, the sun causes comets to lose their grip on large masses of ice, dust and gas.

Each time it passes through the inner solar system, the fragile comet releases a new trail of debris into its orbital stream. The comet lost about 1/1,000 of its mass when it last passed, in 1986.

It just so happens that the Earth crosses the orbit of Halley’s Comet not once, but twice a year. That is why even though Halley’s Comet itself is not nearby, the inhabitants of the Earth can feel the impact of Halley’s Comet.

Halley’s Comet is host to two famous annual meteor showers, one in May and one in October. In early May, we will see fragments of Halley’s comet as the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower.

Then about six months later, in October, Earth’s orbit again crossed the orbital path of Halley’s Comet. This time, the separated pieces of the comet will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere as the annual Orionid meteor shower.

The following are facts about Halley’s comet:

1. Halley’s Comet is said to be a ‘valley’.

2. Many people today call her “Hailey”, a legacy of Bill Haley and the Comets rock band from the 1950s.

3. Comet Halley is the cause of the Eta Aquariid meteor shower and the Orinoid meteor shower.

4. The remnants of cometary debris crossing the orbit of Halley’s Comet. Since Halley’s comet has circled the sun several times over the centuries, pieces of the comet are scattered in its orbit. This is why comets do not have to be close to the Earth or the Sun to produce meteor showers.

5. Where is Halley’s Comet now? Astronomers often like to give the distances of solar system objects in astronomical units (AU), which is the Sun-Earth distance.

Halley’s Comet is 0.587 AU from the Sun at its closest point to the Sun (perihelion) and 35.3 AU at its farthest point (aphelion). In other words, at its furthest point, Halley’s Comet was about 60 times farther from the Sun than at its closest point.

6. The comet was last at perihelion in 1986, and will return again in 2061.

7. In December 2023, the comet will reach its farthest point from the sun that binds it in orbit. It is then pulled inexorably by the Sun’s gravity, bending and moving back towards the inner solar system. Comet Halley will return in 2061.