Comet class

Halley-Type Comets

Periodic comets with intermediate periods of roughly 20–200 years, often on highly inclined or retrograde orbits.

Comet class

Overview

Periodic comets with orbits of decades to a couple of centuries, named for their prototype, Halley's Comet.

3 modelled members.

Halley's Comet1P/Halley
The most famous comet, visible from Earth every ~76 years, whose return in 1986 was met by an international fleet including ESA's Giotto — and the parent of two annual meteor showers.
TypeHalley-type cometPeriod76 yr
Swift–Tuttle109P/Swift–Tuttle
A large Halley-type comet on a 133-year orbit, the parent body of the reliable Perseid meteor shower each August.
TypeHalley-type cometPeriod133 yrDiscovered1862
Tempel–Tuttle55P/Tempel–Tuttle
The parent comet of the Leonid meteor shower, whose 33-year returns produce the periodic Leonid storms.
TypeHalley-type cometPeriod33 yrDiscovered1865

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.

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