Comet Missions
Comets and transition objects that have been visited by a spacecraft.
- 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
The bilobed Jupiter-family comet orbited and landed on by ESA's Rosetta and Philae in 2014–2016 — the most closely studied comet in history.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod6.45 yrDiscovered1969 - Borrelly19P/Borrelly
A Jupiter-family comet whose bowling-pin-shaped nucleus was imaged by NASA's Deep Space 1 in 2001.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod6.8 yrDiscovered1904 - Grigg–Skjellerup26P/Grigg–Skjellerup
A Jupiter-family comet visited by ESA's Giotto in 1992 during its extended mission, after Giotto's earlier encounter with Halley.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod5.3 yrDiscovered1902 - 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 - Hartley 2103P/Hartley
A small, hyperactive Jupiter-family comet flown past by NASA's EPOXI mission (the repurposed Deep Impact spacecraft) in 2010.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod6.5 yrDiscovered1986 - Tempel 19P/Tempel
A Jupiter-family comet struck by NASA's Deep Impact probe in 2005 and later revisited by Stardust, revealing the composition beneath a comet's crust.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod5.6 yrDiscovered1867 - Wild 281P/Wild
A Jupiter-family comet from which NASA's Stardust captured coma dust and returned it to Earth in 2006 — the first cometary sample return.
TypeJupiter-family cometPeriod6.4 yrDiscovered1978