- Start
- Jul 28, 206125% CONFIDENCELow confidencefrom the source
Halley's Comet Returns to Perihelion
- Halley's Comet (1P/Halley) is the only known short-period comet consistently visible to the naked eye; last perihelion 8-9 February 1986, next perihelion 28 July 2061 (then about 27 March 2134)[1][2][3]
- Its period varies between about 74 and 79-80 years; the orbit is retrograde with eccentricity 0.967, perihelion 0.59 au (between Mercury and Venus) and aphelion about 35 au[1][3]
- In 1705 Edmond Halley linked the 1531, 1607 and 1682 comets and predicted a 1758 return, confirmed when it was first seen on 25 December 1758; it has been recorded since at least 240 BC[1][3]
- In 1986 a fleet including Giotto (ESA), Vega 1 and 2, Suisei and Sakigake observed it, the first comet studied in detail by spacecraft[1][3]
- The nucleus is about 15 x 8 x 8 km (mean diameter 11 km), a dark dirty snowball; it sheds an estimated 1 to 3 metres of surface per orbit[1][3]
- Space.com's 2023 preview gives inbound crossings (Earth's orbit 19 June 2061, Venus 9 July 2061), naked-eye visibility from mid-June 2061, and the best evening view around 4-8 August 2061, brighter than in 1986[2]
References 362% CONFIDENCE
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
- [1]25%en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Cometen.wikipedia.org· Posted Sep 11, 2026· Starts Jul 28, 2061 ✓· 33% of score
No wording about the date found on en.wikipedia.org; treat it as unverified.
- [2]78%Halley's Comet begins its 38-year journey back toward Earth tonightspace.com· Added Sep 14, 2026· 34% of score
Space.com's own headline notes the comet 'begins its 38-year journey back toward Earth tonight,' broadly consistent with the pin's 2061 return, though the article body could not be retrieved to confirm the specific stored date.
- [3]82%1P/Halleyscience.nasa.gov· Added Sep 14, 2026· 33% of score
NASA's own page states Halley's Comet 'will return in 2061 on its regular 76-year journey around the Sun,' consistent with the pin's stored July 2061 date, though it does not give the specific day-level date the pin uses.
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