Halley’s Comet
An icy traveller with a tail
Halley’s Comet is a space traveller made of ice, dust, and rocky material. It spends most of its journey far from the Sun. When it comes closer, its surface warms up. Ice changes into gas and carries dust away. A glowing cloud forms around its dark centre, and long tails stretch into space.
The comet follows a very stretched-out orbit and returns near the Sun about every seventy-six years. People have watched it many times throughout history. Spacecraft have seen its centre close up. Its tail is not engine smoke: warmth, sunlight, and particles flowing from the Sun help create it.
Play space games → Explore in the planetarium →In the planetarium you can spin this world and look at it from every side.
Artist’s impression · the surface is an illustration.
Sources and images
Celestial maps: Solar System Scope / INOVE · CC BY 4.0. Thumbnails were reduced and shaded. Artistic SVG maps were created for this project.