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May 8, 2021 · There have been some stunners, some surprises, and a few that could have been great, but fell short. Here’s my (highly subjective) pick of the five most interesting and spectacular comets from the past 25 years.
Sep 12, 2023 · Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) will zip past the planet at a distance of roughly 125 million kilometres today. The comet was discovered on Aug. 12 by amateur astronomer and comet-hunter Hideo...
Jan 6, 2023 · On Feb. 1, comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will pass to within 28 million miles (42 million km) of our planet, its first approach in 50,000 years. While this will no doubt entice many skywatchers to...
Sep 9, 2013 · Great January Comet January 13–27, 1910 This comet was visible in daylight on the 17th as a snowy-white object with a tail 1° long. It quickly moved northward and became a stupendous object for the Northern Hemisphere.
- Comet Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1) On Sept. 18, 1965, amateur astronomer Kaoru Ikeya and professional astronomer Tsutomu Seki independently discovered what became the greatest comet of the century, Ikeya-Seki.
- Comet Bennett (C/1969 Y1) Comet Bennett, the brightest comet seen after Ikeya-Seki, was a magnitude 8.5 object when South African amateur astronomer John Caister Bennett discovered it Dec.
- Comet Kohoutek (C/1973 E1) Let me be honest: The only reason Comet Kohoutek ranks as “great” is because the media hyped it as the “comet of the century.”
- Comet West (C/1975 V1) Danish astronomer Richard M. West discovered the comet that would bear his name Nov. 5, 1975, in images taken at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile.
Dec 8, 2023 · Compare that to when the comet was speeding around the sun at perihelion on Feb. 9, 1986 at 33.77 miles (54.52 km) per second; some 121,572 miles (195,609 km) per hour. So, after Dec. 8, the...
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Oct 16, 2023 · With a crispy outside and a fluffy inside, astronomers have compared comets to deep-fried ice cream. Most comets are a few miles wide, and the largest known is about 85 miles wide. Because they...
