Halley's Comet in the night sky, artwork. Halley's Comet orbits the Sun every 76 years. Edmund Halley (1656-1742) discovered this regular behaviour, a

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Halley's Comet in the night sky, artwork. Halley's Comet orbits the Sun every 76 years. Edmund Halley (1656-1742) discovered this regular behaviour, and the comet is named for him. It will return to the inner Solar System in 2061. Comets are bodies of ice and dust from the outer solar system. The ices boil near the Sun, and the evaporated material forms a tail, streaming away from the Sun. This tail can be many millions of kilometres long and can be very bright. Because of the unexpected nature of their appearance, comets were often thought to foretell impending disaster.

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Size: 3611px × 4837px
Photo credit: © DETLEV VAN RAVENSWAAY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: artwork, astronomical, astronomy, coma, comet, cometary, cosmology, halley, halleys, illustration, night, periodic, science, short-term, sky, solar, system, tail, vertical