Tag Archives: halley

Halley’s Comet

Halley - ESA
Halley’s Comet and its potato shaped nucleus, photographed by the Giotto spacecraft

Every 76 years, the famous Halley’s Comet makes its way through the inner solar-system and is visible from Earth. This periodicity was first determined in 1705 by English astronomer Sir Edmond Halley, after whom the comet is named. This picture of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) was taken in 1986 which was its most recent foray into this part of our solar system. The European Space Agency space craft Giotto snapped this picture and became one of the first spacecraft ever to encounter and photograph the nucleus of a comet. Giotto was able to pass and image Halley’s nucleus as it receded from the Sun.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedintumblrmail