Comet
Halley's Comet
A short-period comet (1P/Halley) that returns to the inner Solar System roughly every 76 years.
- Type
- Comet
- Domain
- Scientific connections
- Connections
- 9
NASA/W. Liller · Public domain
- Type: Comet
- Domain: Scientific connections
Orbit & physical parameters
Osculating orbit and physical parameters from the NASA JPL Small-Body Database · Halley-type Comet* · near-Earth · epoch 1968-01-20 (JD 2439875.5 TDB) · Earth MOID 0.0745097 au
| Semi-major axis | 17.928635 ± 9.9587e-9 au | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Eccentricity | 0.967936 ± 7.5527e-9 | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Perihelion distance | 0.574864 ± 1.3552e-7 au | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Aphelion distance | 35.282406 ± 1.9598e-8 au | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Inclination | 162.19053 ± 1.5093e-5 deg | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Longitude of ascending node | 59.098947 ± 1.9861e-5 deg | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Argument of perihelion | 112.241431 ± 2.0534e-5 deg | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Orbital period | 27,728 ± 2.3103e-5 d | NASA JPL · calculated |
| Diameter | 11 km | NASA JPL · catalogued |
| Geometric albedo | 0.04 ± 0.01 | NASA JPL · estimated |
Full field-level provenance
- Semi-major axis: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · a · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Eccentricity: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · e · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Perihelion distance: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · q · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Aphelion distance: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · ad · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Inclination: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · i · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Longitude of ascending node: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · om · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Argument of perihelion: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · w · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Orbital period: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · orbit.elements · per · JPL orbit determination (least-squares fit to the observation arc) · calculated · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Diameter: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · phys_par · phys.diameter · catalogued value · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
- Geometric albedo: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics · JPL SBDB · phys_par · phys.albedo · Bayesian estimate · JPL solution by Davide Farnocchia, 8518 obs · retrieved 2026-07-11
Orbital elements are a calculated JPL orbit-determination fit, all referred to the single osculating epoch above (solution by Davide Farnocchia); each carries its own uncertainty. Fields the database did not provide are omitted, never invented.

Experience system V6
Comet profile
A trajectory-led view for nucleus, coma, tail, orbit class, and mission or observatory links.
- 01
Observe
WIKIMEDIA imagery anchors the visual reading with licensed source metadata.
- 02
Measure
Measurement panels use graph coverage, catalog identifiers, and source availability without inventing values.
- 03
Locate
Associated with Orionids.
- 04
Connect
9 graph relations shape the knowledge viewport.
- Object type
- Comet
- Graph relations
- 9
- Verified sources
- 2
- Image records
- 2
- Domain
- Scientific connections
- Status
- Graph entity
Scientific map
Orbit context
- Primary orbital anchor
- The Sun
- Measured orbit field
- Orbital distance not recorded in this graph record
Original SVG diagram
Small-body anatomy
- Designation
- 1P/Halley
- Discovery
- Not recorded
- Eccentricity
- Not recorded
- Inclination
- Not recorded
Visual knowledge graph
Relationships, not isolated facts
This viewport is generated from the Asteria knowledge graph. Science, culture, and interpretive links remain separated by domain so visual context never changes the evidentiary meaning of a relation.
- Named afterEdmond Halley
Halley computed the comet's orbit and predicted its return.
- Observed byEdmond Halley
- Visited byGiotto
- Visited byGiotto
- Member of groupHalley-Type Comets
- Source reservoirOort Cloud
- Associated withOrionids
Debris from Halley's Comet.
- Source of meteor showerOrionids
Image provenance
Photography as evidence
Continue the atlas
Curated next objects
Orionids
An October meteor shower whose radiant lies in the constellation Orion, produced by debris from Halley's Comet.
astronomerEdmond Halley
Edmond Halley was an English astronomer who computed the orbit of the comet that now bears his name and predicted its return.
historical discoveryThe Periodicity of Halley's Comet
Applying Newton's gravitation, Halley showed that comets recorded in 1531, 1607, and 1682 were one body on a 76-year orbit, and predicted its return in 1758.
comet classHalley-Type Comets
Periodic comets with orbits of decades to a couple of centuries, named for their prototype, Halley's Comet.
small body reservoirOort Cloud
A hypothesised spherical cloud of trillions of icy bodies at the outermost edge of the Sun's gravitational influence — the reservoir from which long-period and Halley-type comets are nudged inward.
space missionGiotto
ESA's mission to Halley's Comet, which flew through the comet's coma in 1986 and returned the first close-up images of a cometary nucleus, later re-targeted to comet Grigg–Skjellerup.
Observation
How this was captured
- Source
- WIKIMEDIA
Data
Scientific data & provenance
Data & provenance
- Stable ID
comet:halleys-comet- Type
- Comet
- Domain
- Scientific connections
- Relationships
- 9
- Graph version
- 1.0.0
Dataset membership
Open data
In the graph export: graph.json · graph.jsonld
Planned API: GET /api/v0/entities/comet:halleys-comet
Scientific quality
Substantial4 of 6 applicable dimensions complete
- Description
- Complete
- Source coverage
- Complete
- Relationship coverage
- Complete
- Review coverage
- None
- Citation coverage
- None
- Image coverage
- Complete
- Timeline coverage
- Not applicable
Scientific entity. Dimensions that cannot apply to this object are excluded rather than counted as gaps. See the evidence framework and authority dashboard.
Scientific citations
2Real, source-backed references — primary papers first, then datasets and institutional sources. Formatted through the citation engine; nothing is fabricated.
- Archive pageHalley's Comet — JPL Small-Body Database
NASA JPL (Caltech)
Cite (APA / BibTeX)
NASA JPL (Caltech) (n.d.). Halley's Comet — JPL Small-Body Database. NASA JPL (Caltech). https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html @misc{cite:jpl-comet-halleys-comet, title = {Halley's Comet — JPL Small-Body Database}, organization = {NASA JPL (Caltech)}, year = {n.d.}, url = {https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html}, note = {Orbit and physical data for Halley's Comet.} } - Institutional pageHalley's Comet — NASA Science
NASA
Cite (APA / BibTeX)
NASA (n.d.). Halley's Comet — NASA Science. NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/ @misc{cite:nasa-comet-halleys-comet, title = {Halley's Comet — NASA Science}, organization = {NASA}, year = {n.d.}, url = {https://science.nasa.gov/}, note = {NASA overview of Halley's Comet.} }
You might also explore
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- 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.
- BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica
General reference for the history of astronomy, biographies, and cultural context.


