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# 3: Halley's Comet
-Halley’s Comet is quite famous because it was the first one to be spotted. A British astronomer Edmund Halley was the very first person to discover that comets are periodic. In 1682 he observed and tallied the records and predicted that that it would return in 1757. And it did! -
# 8: Comet Encke
-This comet was only second to be found as periodic. It was discovered by a German Astronomer Johann Franz Encke. He discovered it in the year 1819. This comet is also the body of the Taurid shower in October and November. This comet is quite old and is now only leaving a small trai of gas. -
# 6: Temple Tuttle
- Temple Tuttle originated from the annual Leonid Meteor Shower. The Leonid Meteor Shower is suspected to not show for next 30 years of Novembers. 2002 was when earth venture through debris trails left in 1767 and 1866.
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# 7: Comet Tempel 1
-Leaving a crater the size of a football stadium, NASA launched a space probe about the size of a washing machine. They sent it in the path of the comet Comet Tempel 1. When it collided with the comet it left a large cloud of dust. NASA is trying to puncture a hole through the comet so they would be able to identify the substance the comet is made of. They think it may be impossible. -
# 9: Churyumov-Gerasimenko
-Due to touch down in 2014, a space probe was launched in the year of 2004. The space probe named Rosetta was launched by the European space agency. This comet had a quite large orbit but ever since 1840, it has gotten smaller. This is because of its interactions with Jupiter’s gravitational pull. -
# 10: Comet Wild 2
-A space probe named Stardust paid a visit to Come Wild 2. It was only 157 miles away from the nucleus. Stardust took some amazing picture of the comet. It returned to earth with its data in January of 2006. -
# 4: Shoemaker Levy-9
-It is one quite fantastic comet; it was technically murdered by Jupiter. It was sucked in Jupiter’s strong gravitational pull. While that was happening in 1992, telescopes all over our world, were watching especially when it finally got back at Jupiter and struck Jupiter in 1994. It was first actually discovered in 1993. -
# 2: Halle Bopp
-Hale Bopp was last sighted in January of 1997, which was its closest approach to earth in 400 years. In only 1995 when it was still orbiting Jupiter, it was visible due to how bright it is. It can also be seen with a naked eye. Hale Bopp led to an odd and depressing event: 39 members of the heaven’s Gate cult of San Diego committed suicide.It was first discovered in 1995 -
#1: Hyakutake
-In March 1996 this icy blob passed just 9.3 million miles away from earth. That was the closest it ever has come to the sun in 9000 years. It has a faint gas tail that to most people has created a beautiful comet display, maybe even the best! -
#5: Comet Borrelly
-In 2001, Comet Borrelly was closely spied by a NASA spacecraft. It was only second to be watched close up. This comet has a solid black core. Scientists believe that it originated in an icy cloud of rocks just past Neptune called the Kuiper Belt.
