When is the next visual comet?

Answer 1

No one knows. Comets are hard to see coming. They aren't visible until they come in past the orbits of the outer planets. We wouldn't get a lot of warning time, not that we could do very much to get out of the way or modify the orbit of the comet so it would miss us.

Answer 2

Some comets are periodic; they return to the inner solar system at regular intervals. The most well known is Halley's Comet, which returns to the inner system every 76 years or so. Other comets are very long period comets, and while they may be periodic, the time between passes is so long that it is not possible to anticipate their return. For example, Comet Hale Bopp was probably last seen about 4000 years ago, and will not return to the inner system for another 2500 years.

Other comets are new; we have no records that they have ever been visible before. This includes the majority of all comets.

Halley's Comet won't be back until 2062, and Hale-Bopp won't be back until 4350 or so, but we're almost certain that other comets will be visible between now and then. We just don't yet know when.

Answer 3

Comets often come quite unexpectedly. Some periodic comets are known; it can be estimated when they come back. But many comets come to Earth once, and may come back after millions of years, or perhaps never.

Comets often come quite unexpectedly. Some periodic comets are known; it can be estimated when they come back. But many comets come to Earth once, and may come back after millions of years, or perhaps never.

Comets often come quite unexpectedly. Some periodic comets are known; it can be estimated when they come back. But many comets come to Earth once, and may come back after millions of years, or perhaps never.

Comets often come quite unexpectedly. Some periodic comets are known; it can be estimated when they come back. But many comets come to Earth once, and may come back after millions of years, or perhaps never.

Answer 4

An excellent question; the answer is that comets don't run on a set schedule. Most of the comets that we see are long-period comets whose orbits have not been established, things that have never been seen during recorded history. For example, Comet Hale-Bopp's last pass through the solar system was in about 2500 BCE.

Short-period comets with well-defined orbits like Halley's Comet are fairly rare.

So, we'll know about the next visible comet as soon as the discoverer sends an e-mail to the IAU announcing his discovery. I recommend visiting www.spaceweather.com, which usually has the earliest news of astronomical events.

EDIT:

Comets do run on a set schedule, but no-one knows what that schedule is for many comets.

Hale-Bopp's last pass through the solar system was in 1997.

Answer 5

We don't always know in advance when a comet will come, so if you want to watch comets, you have to pay attention to the news, perhaps in specialized Web sites. One of the better ones is SpaceWeather.com, linked below.

Answer 6

Well, not this year for sure, and probably not in this century. But it will certainly happen EVENTUALLY, unless we prevent it. Good thing is, we are pretty close to being able to divert an Earth-bound comet to either miss the Earth completely, or perhaps even capture it in orbit.

Answer 7

Good question. Comets can appear almost any time; except for the "repeating" comets, we don't know when they will appear.

The problem is that people have only been keeping good records of comets for about 1500 years, and many comets have periods much longer than that. The next comet to show up in the sky could be one that hasn't been near Earth since before men came down from the trees and began walking upright.

Answer 8

Comets don't happen on schedule; we have no idea when the next one will appear. The last two comets were discovered by NASA just before they fell into the Sun; the next one may go the same way.

Answer 9

Comets often come quite unexpectedly. Some periodic comets are known; it can be estimated when they come back. But many comets come to Earth once, and may come back after millions of years, or perhaps never.

Answer 10

in 2043
when the moon is right behind the sun