the comet Elenin will be an extintion level event arriving on Aug.22-Sept.6th.
Halley's Comet is visible from Earth roughly every 76 years. The next predicted appearance is in 2061. It was last visible in 1986.
A comet is a ball of ice and dust that passes "near" the sun during part of its orbit, which heats it to the point that it outgasses and blows of part of its mass on each orbit, forming a sort of streamer or "tail". There are lots of comets. The periodic meteor showers we get are debris from comets that have mostly disintegrated. We don't know of any big showy periodic comets like Halley's (usually, its most recent appearance was rather disappointing) due to make an appearance in the near future (unless you consider half a century "the near future). However, there's always hope. (If by "heading towards Earth" you mean "will hit Earth causing disastrous results" then the answer is no. This can happen, but it's extremely rare and there's no real reason to think a significant impact will occur anytime soon.)
While we are certain that a large comet or asteroid certainly WILL hit the Earth, we have no good candidates in mind. It will probably take us by surprise. A few years ago, astronomers identified a large asteroid that appeared to be headed right for us! It was going to hit the Earth in 2029! On Friday the 13th! Ooops! Never mind...... Tuned out that with more accurate observations of the asteroid's orbit, it probably won't hit at all. Might not even come close enough to see. But scientists are coming to recognize that while a major asteroid strike is a VERY unlikely event, if it DOES happen, it would ruin everybody's day. So astronomers have started watching for Near Earth Objects, and hope to identify and catalog every asteroid bigger than a basketball to make sure that it does NOT hit earth. At least, not any time soon.
That's a nonperiodic comet, meaning it won't come back any time soon. It is hard to determine the exact period of such comets.
He was born and died while Halley's Comet was passing by.
Near
"In the near future" could be rephrased simply as "soon".
"coming soon / in the near future"
We don't yet know; nobody has discovered it yet. Actually, NASA scientists have seen at least two comets so far in 2010 that were first discovered as they fell into the Sun! Hopefully, we'll get a chance to see the next one. The vast majority of comets have orbits that are not well known. Halley's Comet, with a period of only 76 years, is the classic example of a short-period comet. But most comets are "new" to us, not appearing anywhere in the historical records. Note, for example, that Comet Hale-Bopp, which was quite visible in 1997, had last visited the inner solar system 4,200 years before; perhaps the Babylonians or Sumerians noticed it, but none of their records mention it. Hundreds of quasi-amateur astronomers spend their nights in their observatories, watching the skies, and we will know about the next comet as soon as the IAU receives their e-mail about it.
Bonaventini has written: 'An account of the comet, which now appears in Italy, and will soon be visible to all parts of Europe'
soon in the near future
no, but he will do soon.