When will the Halley's Comet die?

Answer 1

Halley's comet loses a bit of mass every time it makes a trip around the sun. Eventually, it will run out of volatiles (gasses) and become an almost invisible asteroid. There is the possibility that it might crash into something. While I don't believe its course intercepts any planets currently, the outgassing could change the course enough to cause Halley to crash into a planet.

In 1994, that fate befell Comet Shoemaker-Levy which fell dramatically into Jupiter.

Answer 2

Halley's comet visits every 75 to 76 years. The last visit was in 1986, but just like every thing in the solar system, its orbit is a little eccentric which means it can actually vary from anything up to 74 to 79 years. The medium is taken at 75 to 76, so the estimated time of the next visit is 2061 to 2062.

Answer 3

Halley's is due to return to the inner solar system some time in 2061. It's not possible

to predict yet how dazzling it will appear on that occasion, because we can't predict its

return precisely enough to know which side of the sun we'll be on at the time.

Answer 4

Halley's Comet is a periodic comet that orbits the sun and will continue to do so for thousands of years. It will not "die" in the traditional sense, but will gradually lose its icy material as it makes its repeated orbits.

Answer 5

Comets that come near the Sun, like Halley's comet, only survive for a fairly short time (in astronomical terms) - perhaps a few tens of thousands of years.