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<title>Comet Fact Sheet</title>
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<h3>Comet Fact Sheet</h3>
<img src="../images/halebopp">Comet Hale-Bopp
<h4>Information on Selected Comets</h4>
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                         Orbital   Perihelion   Perihelion   Semi-Major     Orbital        Orbital     Absolute
 Number & Name           Period       Date       Distance       Axis      Eccentricity   Inclination   Magnitude
 -------------           -------   ----------   ----------   ----------   ------------   -----------   ---------
 1P Halley             76.1 yrs.  1986-02-09    0.587 AU     17.94 AU        0.967       162.2 deg.      5.5                                                                                        
 2P Encke               3.30 yrs. 1997-06-11    0.339 AU      2.21 AU        0.847        11.8 deg.      9.8                                                                                             
21P Giacobini-Zinner    6.52 yrs. 1998-11-21    0.996 AU      3.52 AU        0.706        31.8 deg.      9.0                          
26P Grigg-Skjellerup    5.09 yrs. 1992-07-22    0.989 AU      2.96 AU        0.664        21.1 deg.     12.5                                                                                                       
27P Crommelin          27.89 yrs. 1984-09-01    0.743 AU      9.20 AU        0.919        29.0 deg.     12.0                                                                                
45P Honda-Mrkos          
       -Pajdusakova     5.29 yrs. 1996-01-17    0.581 AU      3.02 AU        0.825         4.3 deg.     13.5
46P Wirtanen            5.46 yrs. 1997-03-14    1.063 AU      3.12 AU        0.652        11.7 deg.      9.0                          
55P Temple-Tuttle      32.92 yrs. 1998-02-27    0.982 AU     10.33 AU        0.906       162.5 deg.      9.0                                                                    
75P Kohoutek            6.24 yrs. 1973-12-28    1.571 AU      3.4 AU         0.537         5.4 deg.    
76P West-Kohoutek
           -Ikemura     6.46 yrs. 2000-06-01    1.596 AU      3.45 AU        0.540        30.5 deg.
81P Wild 2              6.17 yrs. 1997-05-06    1.583 AU      3.44 AU        0.540         3.2 deg.      6.5                                        
95P Chiron             50.7 yrs.  1996-02-14    8.46 AU      13.7 AU         0.38          7 deg.     
    Hale-Bopp          4000. yrs. 1997-03-31    0.914 AU      250. AU        0.995        89.4 deg.
    Hyakutake        &gt65000. yrs. 1996-05-01    0.230 AU    &gt1600. AU        0.99997     124.9 deg.
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<b>Halley</b> - Subject of the 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cd-rom/set_bd/halley.html">International Halley Watch</a> 
(IHW), a coordinated effort of ground-based and 
spacecraft observations.
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<b>Encke</b> - Radar observations made by Arecibo Observatory in 1980 indicated a radius of 
0.4 to 4.0 km. 
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<b>Giacobini-Zinner</b> - Target of 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?78-079A">ICE</a> 
flyby on 11 Sep 1985 within 7800 km.
Future target of 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?85-073A">Suisei</a> 
(24 Nov 1998) and 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?85-001A">Sakigake</a> 
(29 Nov 1998) flybys.
<br>
<b>Grigg-Skjellerup</b> - Target of Giotto</a> 
flyby (within 200 km) on 10 July 1992.
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<b>Crommelin</b> - Subject of 1984 test of the 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cd-rom/set_bd/halley.html">IHW</a>
network.
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<b>Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova</b> - Target of 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?85-001A">Sakigake</a> 
flyby at 10,000 km on 3 Feb 1996.
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<b>Wirtanen</b> - To be visited by the ESA 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?ROSETTA">Rosetta</a> 
mission in 2011. 
<br>
<b>Temple-Tuttle</b> - Planned target of 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?85-073A">Suisei</a> 
flyby on 28 Feb 1998.
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<b>Kohoutek</b> - Observed by Skylab astronauts in Dec 1973 and Jan 1974. 
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<b>West-Kohoutek-Ikemura</b> - Target of 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?NM-DS-1">New Millenium Deep Space-1</a> 
spacecraft in 2000.
<br>
<b>Wild 2</b> - Target of the Discovery coma sample return mission, 
<a href="http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/database/www-nmc?STARDST">Stardust</a>
, in Jan 2004. 
<br>
<b>Chiron</b> - Comet/asteroid, also known as asteroid 2060 Chiron.  Subject of the Chiron Perihelion Campaign
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<b>Hale-Bopp</b> - Discovered in July, 1995.  Bright comet, made closest 
approach to Earth on 22 March 1997.
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<b>Hyakutake</a></b> - Discovered in January, 1996.  Passed within 0.1 AU of Earth on 
25 March 1996.
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