page_title: Halley's Comet
section_title: 2061
hierarchical_section_title: Halley's Comet / History / 2061
caption_attribution_description: English: Animation of 1P/Halley orbit - 2061 apparition&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Sun&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Venus&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Earth&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Jupiter&#160;· &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 1P/Halley
context_page_description: Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and the only naked-eye comet that can appear twice in a human lifetime. Halley last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061.
  Halley's returns to the inner Solar System have been observed and recorded by astronomers since at least 240 BC. Clear records of the comet's appearances were made by Chinese, Greeks, Babylonian, and medieval European chroniclers, but, at those times, were not recognized as reappearances of the same object. The comet's periodicity was first determined in 1705 by English astronomer Edmond Halley, after whom it is now named.
  During its 1986 apparition, Halley's Comet became the first comet to be observed in detail by spacecraft, providing the first observational data on the structure of a comet nucleus and the mechanism of coma and tail formation.
context_section_description: The next perihelion of Halley's Comet is 28 July 2061, when it will be better positioned for observation than during the 1985–1986 apparition, as it will be on the same side of the Sun as Earth. It is expected to have an apparent magnitude of −0.3, compared with only +2.1 for the 1986 apparition. It has been calculated that on 9 September 2060, Halley will pass within 0.98 AU (147,000,000 km) of Jupiter, and then on 20 August 2061 will pass within 0.0543 AU (8,120,000 km) of Venus.
caption: Animation of 1P/Halley orbit - 2061 apparition
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