Halley's Comet

Archive Report

Preparing for the Visit

Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience for Most

Halley's Comet is not just any celestial streaker. Astronomers have identified nearly 1,000 other comets; billions more are thought to orbit the sun at the outer fringe of the solar system. But none has been viewed from Earth with the regularity and few have shone with the brilliance of Halley's (rhymes with alleys), now headed for its 30th consecutive recorded appearance in the nighttime sky. Amateur astronomers in the United States will first see it in November, but best viewing with the naked eye will occur next spring. Halley's is all the more special because it arrives roughly every 76 years, making it a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most viewers.

Halley's 1985–86 visit has become the international scientific event of ...

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