Comet Halley

Comet Halley, which was subject of Charles Messier's first observing project and the second comet he discovered (though lately), in January, 1759.
  • More on Comet Halley's 1758-1759 apparition

    [Halley and M75]

    Here comet Halley is shown as it appeared in at its most resent apparation 1985-86, in mid-March 1986. This gorgeous Halley shot has that little diamond asterism down by M75 in it (below Halley's head, at the bottom of the image).

    Faint globular cluster M75 may be found in this image: From the most left of the three conspicuous stars left and just above Halley's head, go to the fainter star above and left. This star forms a less conspicuous, nearly rectangular triangle with two other faint stars above and left of it. On the line connecting it with the most left edge, a diffuse starlike spot can be found; this is globular cluster M75.

    This image was taken by Tom Polakis with a 100mm lens wide open (!) at f/2.8, 10 min. exposure on 3M1000. Note the length of the gas tail along the bottom of the frame in the full, big image.

  • More information on comet Halley by Bill Arnett
  • More Comet Halley stuff


    Hartmut Frommert
    Christine Kronberg
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    Last Modification: January 13, 2004