Halley's Comet

short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years

23 dated entries naming Halley's Comet, drawn from 20 separate years between 240 BCE and 1986 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Comet Halley in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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3rd century BC

240 BCEMay 25 – Chinese astronomers make the first recorded observation of Halley's Comet.source

2nd century BC

164 BCEHalley's Comet makes its regular appearance in the sky, as recorded by a Babylonian scribe. It last appeared in 240 BC.source

1st century BC

87 BCEHalley's Comet makes its third confirmed apparition, recorded by Babylonian scribes as being visible in the sky "day beyond day" for about one month.source
12 BCEHalley's Comet makes an appearance, as recorded by Chinese Astronomers for about 56 days. Written in the Annal of Han as "In the first year of Yuan Yen (12 B.C.), in the Autumn the seventh month, on the day Sing Wei, a comet swept in Gemini, went through Pollux and Castor, and passed over Leo and Virgo. It was then behind the sun about six degrees, and appeared in the east earlier in the morning. After thirteen days the comet became an evening star shining in the west, whence it swept over Arcturus, moved slowly to Serpens, and reached Ophiuchus. After 56 days it disappeared in Scorpio."source

2nd century

1416th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.source

7th century

684September 7 – A large comet is observed in Japan (it's Japan's oldest observation record of Halley's Comet).source

9th century

837April 10 – Halley's Comet passes approximately 5 million km from Earth, its closest ever approach.source

10th century

989September – Halley's Comet is at perihelion.source

11th century

1066March 20 – Halley's Comet reaches perihelion. Its appearance is subsequently recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry.source

14th century

1378November 10 – The first observation of Halley's Comet from Earth is made, based on an estimate from orbital calculations.source

15th century

1456June 9 – Halley's Comet makes an appearance, as noted by the humanist scholar Platina.source

16th century

1531August 26 – Comet Halley achieves its perihelion.source

17th century

1607October 27 – Halley's Comet is seen by Johannes Kepler.source
1682August 23 – A comet that will later become known as Comet Halley, is observed from several locations on Earth after reaching magnitude 2 and becoming visible to the naked eye. Arthur Storer sees it from the North American colony of Maryland, while German astronomer Johannes Hevelius measures it from Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland). Edmond Halley successfully predicts that it will return in 1758.source
1682September – Halley's Comet makes an appearance, and is observed by Edmond Halley himself.source

18th century

1705Edmond Halley publicly predicts the periodicity of Halley's Comet and computes its expected path of return in 1758.source
1758December 25 – Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's 1705 prediction of its periodicity.source
1759Halley's Comet returns; a team of three mathematicians, Alexis Clairaut, Jérome Lalande and Nicole Reine Lepaute, have – for the first time – predicted the datesource

19th century

1835November 16 – Halley's Comet reaches perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun.source

20th century

1910April 10 – Halley's Comet becomes visible with the naked eye (perihelion: April 20); Earth passes through its tail about May 19 (its next visit will be in 1986).source
1986February 9 – Halley's Comet reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the Solar System in the 20th century (the first was in 1910).source
1986Halley's Comet reaches the closest point to the Earth during its second visit to the Solar System in the 20th century. The next time it will be seen is predicted for 2061.source
1986March 8 – The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.source