Comets!

Vagabonds from space visit the inner solar system!

Here's What's Up!

What's the fuss?
- Comet Elenin will not destory the Earth - Astro Bob

Recent Comet Brightness Estimates - reported to the Minor Planet Center at Harvard. Check here to see what comet observations have been made and submitted to the Center. Astra assumes no responsibility for the validity of these observations, but may be useful to those who wish to observe comets.

Read Astra's Comet Paper!

Images of the original artwork by Lauri Kunkel! ! !
My observations of past comets:
Read Trailing the Comet Hale-Bopp, Astra's observations of C/1995 01
Observations of Hyakutake - Mar 16.26, Mar 23.23, Mar 24.26 & Closest Approach - - by Astra

Links to Great Comet Stuff!

Make A Comet Ephemris for your location!
Gary Kronk's Cometography Page
Jim Scotti's Comet Page
Don Machholtz The Comet Hunter
See the Comet Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers A.L.P.O
The BAA Comet Section Home Page
International Comet Quarterly
Cometary Archive for Amateur Astronomers (CARA)
Comet Orbit Home Page
Solar Views Comet Introduction
NightskyHunter.com Learn How to Discover a Comet
All About Comets from Purdue University
Seiichi Yoshida's Home Page - Lots of Comet Information, observer's aids
Southern Comets Page
Meteor Showers Online - Meteors associated with comets.

My Comet Hunting Hero - David Levy's Home Page - Latest Discovery October 2006, 22 and counting

Comet Missions and Exploration from Space!

Rosetta Mission - Comet Exploration Mission (Mars Swing by Feb. 25, 2007)
Stardust - NASA Sample Return Mission
Stardust@Home - Study returned samples using your home computer
JPL's List of Asteroid and Comet Spacecraft Missions
Deep Impact Legacy Site

Great Comets that shone during the Age of Information:

Comet 2006P/1 McNaught

The brightest comet of the new millenium so far! C/2006 P1 a.ka. Comet McNaught
Discovered by Robert McNaught of the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia on August 7, 2006. Perihelion was January 12, 2007. Peak magnitude estimate -0.6! So long, Comet McNaught, it won't be back to visit the inner solar system again.

Robert McNaught's C/2006 P1 (McNaught) page - from Siding Spring Observatory
Space Weather.Com Comet McNaught Photo Gallery
C/2006 P1 (McNaught)
Wikipedia Article

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 split into "mini-comets" flying single file through space, much like Shoemaker/Levy9 that crashed into Jupiter. Closest approach to Earth: 5 million miles on May 15, 2006.

Check out Seiichi Yoshida's 73P Comet Info
Gary Konk's Comet 73P Home
NASA 73P Hubble Article

Comet Hale-Bopp

Comet Hale-Bopp Home Page - from Ron Baalke & JPL
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Visit The Comet Hale Bopp Information Page
C/1995 01 (Hale Bopp) was halebopp.com
H-B Magazine Old comets never die, they merely fade....

OR crash into planets....OR break up into pieces....OR hit the sun...Or are flung out of the solar system never to return

Comet Hyakutake Pages

ESO's Hyakutake Page
Comet Hyakutake Page - from JPL
Hyakutake Page by Gregg Geist
LASCO Comet Hyakutake Page - Chronograph on SOHO experiment

1993E The Comet that collided with Jupiter! Links to info on SL9

Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page (JPL)
Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 Collision with Jupiter
Comet SL9 Collides with Jupiter A.L.P.O observer Jeff Beish
SEDS Shoemaker-Levy9 Collision with Jupiter

And when they fade, they really fade...here's a Halley Page:
Solar Views Halley Page
Well, 1986 was a bit before the age of information, wasn't it???

Last update: September 4, 2011

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