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Edmund Halley didn't discover the comet, he predicted when it would return. Up to his

time no-one had been able to say when a comet would appear. In 1705, using Newtons

laws of gravity, he was able to calculate the effects on a comet of the gravity of planets

like Jupiter and Saturn; this allowed him to identify comets recorded in 1682, 1607, and

1531 as the same comet. He then calculated it appeared every 76 years and predicted

its return in 1758. Halley himself didn't live to see it, but it turned up right on time, was

given his name, and has been Halley's comet ever since.

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12y ago

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