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Comet Fun Fact Sheet
Comet Fun Fact Sheet
Halley - Subject of the International Halley Watch (IHW), a coordinated effort of ground-based and spacecraft observations.
Encke - Planned encounter by CONTOUR mission on 12 November 2003. Radar observations made by Arecibo Observatory in 1980 indicated a radius of
0.4 to 4.0 km.
d'Arrest - Planned encounter by CONTOUR mission on 16 August 2008.
Tempel 1 - Planned flyby and projectile impact by the Deep Impact mission on 4 July 2005.
Borrelly - Target of Deep Space 1 spacecraft in 2001.
Giacobini-Zinner - Target of ICE flyby on 11 Sep 1985 within 7800 km.
Grigg-Skjellerup - Target of Giotto flyby (within 200 km) on 10 July 1992.
Crommelin - Subject of 1984 test of the IHW network.
Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova - Originally planned target of Sakigake flyby at 10,000 km on 3 Feb 1996.
Wirtanen - Originally scheduled to be visited by the ESA Rosetta mission in 2011. Mission rerouted.
Temple-Tuttle - Originally planned target of Suisei flyby on 28 Feb 1998.
Churyumov-Gerasimenko - Studied from orbit by Rosetta mission.
Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 - Planned encounter by CONTOUR mission on 18 June 2006. Split into three large pieces in 1995.
Kohoutek - Observed by Skylab astronauts in Dec 1973 and Jan 1974.
West-Kohoutek-Ikemura - Original target of New Millenium Deep Space 1 spacecraft in 2000.
Wild 2 - Target of the Discovery coma sample return mission, Stardust , in Jan 2004.
Wilson-Harrington - At one time a possible target of Deep Space 1 spacecraft in 2001.
Chiron - Comet/asteroid, also known as asteroid 2060 Chiron. Subject of the Chiron Perihelion Campaign
Hale-Bopp - Discovered in July 1995. Bright comet, made closest approach to Earth on 22 March 1997.
Hyakutake - Discovered in January 1996. Bright comet, passed within 0.1 AU of Earth on 25 March 1996.
Author/Curator:
Dr. David R. Williams, dave.williams@nasa.gov
NSSDCA, Mail Code 690.1
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
+1-301-286-1258