The Halley’s comet has begun its long journey back to Earth

The Halley’s Comet, officially 1P/Halley, has begun its long journey back to Earth after reaching aphelion, the farthest point in its orbit from the Sun (at the level of Neptune), on December 9th.

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The famous comet is expected to pass by Earth again in the year 2061. Its last visit took place in 1986, when it was received with great fanfare, but it disappointed many.

And it was expected that its appearance would be like a shining celestial fireball, but the reality is that it was rather a faint spot in the sky that could not be seen with the naked eye.

History of the most famous comet in our society

Baptized with the name of its discoverer, the astronomer Edmond Halley, 1P/Halley completes an orbit around the Sun approximately every 75 to 79 years. This duration has earned it the designation of a “short-period” comet, which means it orbits around the Sun in less than 200 years.

Its short period and predictable behavior is what led to its discovery. Before Halley, it was not known that comets followed an orbital trajectory that allowed them to return.

The astronomer predicted its reappearance in 1705 based on observations recorded at intervals dating back at least 2,000 years.

A sighting of 1P/Halley was even included in the Bayeux Tapestry, the 70-meter cloth that depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and shows the large, bright comet.

As 1P/Halley approaches again, the possibility of a manned mission to visit the comet will undoubtedly be debated. Humanity has already landed a robot on a comet: the ESA’s Rosetta probe reached 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 before its lander module Philae touched down.

Visiting small distant rocks is something we are already quite good at. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx even collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023. And the Japanese space program has already completed two asteroid sample return missions. Perhaps in 2061 we will also be able to visit the famous comet?

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Scientists believe that Halley’s comet has been in existence for at least 16,000 years and shows little signs of aging. According to NASA, an average periodic comet orbits the Sun about 1,000 times.