What is the average orbital period for halley’s

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Your Response. R is the average radius of the orbit of the planet measured in astronomical. In each case, take the. Each unit of the coordinate system is 1 milloion miles. The period of revolution of a planet around the sun is the time it takes for the planet to complete one orbit of the sun.

Halley's comet orbits the sun roughly once every 76 years. It comes very close to the surface of the Sun on its closest approach. Estimate the greatest distance of the comet from the sun. Is it still in the Solar System? Measured from one perihelion passage to the next, Halley's period has been as short as The comet's closest approach to Earth occurred in , at a distance of 0.

At that time, April 10, , Halley reached a total apparent brightness of about magnitude The light of Halley was spread over an extended area, however, so its surface brightness was less than that of Venus. During its appearance, Halley's nearest approach to Earth occured on the outbound leg of the trip at a distance of 0.

It was slightly brighter than the north star Polaris, but again spread over a much larger area than a point-like star. At aphelion in , Halley was The comet was moving 0. At perihelion on February 9, , Halley was only 0. Halley was moving at , mph With each orbit around the Sun, a comet the size of Halley loses an estimated 3 to 10 feet 1 to 3 meters of material from the surface of its nucleus.

Thus, as a comet ages, it eventually dims in appearance and may lose all the ices in its nucleus. The tails disappear at that stage, and the comet finally evolves into a dark mass of rocky material or perhaps dissipates into dust. Scientists calculate that an average periodic comet lives to complete about 1, trips around the Sun. Halley has been in its present orbit for at least 16, years, but it has shown no obvious signs of aging in its recorded appearances. The letter "P" indicates that Halley is a "periodic" comet.

Periodic comets have an orbital period of less than years. JPL's lucky peanuts are an unofficial tradition at big mission events.

It's suspected that about 5, years ago a comet swept within 23 million miles of the Sun, closer than the innermost planet Mercury.