is Halley's comet is in the orbit Neptune now?

Question

A guy on the tv on the news said it was.. is it really? if it is can we see it in the sky at night anytime or soon?

Answer 1

Yes it is within the orbit of Neptune !

here .. july 1st posotions.
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/?ss_outer#caption

The info
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1P

I'd like to know if it can be seen too !!
anyone out there know ??

I'll check back

later... I called our local observatory and what they said was no it's not visable , the reason is already in the answers below.

Answer 2

Halley's comet is in an orbit whose aphelion is about the same distance as Neptune's orbit from the Sun. However, it is out of reach of all but the biggest telescopes and the most sensitive CCD cameras. This comet is a former long period comet that encountered Jupiter or Saturn at least several thousand years ago, whose gravity trapped it in a much smaller orbit than it had before. Astronomers know this because it orbits the sun in a retrograde orbit tilted 23 degrees to the ecliptic. Half of all long period comets orbit the Sun in the opposite direction the planets do. That means it will never get close to Neptune. It's at most some 10 miles long and it's also dormant right now. In about 15 years or so it will reach aphelion and start falling in towards the Sun again for it's 2061 apparition. I will be 95 years old and you will be old too when it returns, but there's always a chance another comet McNaught will come and be easily visible to the Northern hemisphere at it's peak. By 2055, professsional telescopes will re-acquire Halley's comet. Amatuers, except those with larger telescopes and CCD cameras won't be seeing Halley's comet until the late 2059 or so, the rest of us in 2060 when it comes into range of binoculars and smaller telescopes.

Answer 3

Like some of your previous questions, you show a lack of prior research. You need to read up on comets and what makes them more visible. They aren't very large compared to dwarf planets like Pluto, so how the heck are you just going to go out in your back yard and spot them? You have a really top quality high-powered $10K - $20K telescope?

"A guy on the tv on the news said so". "Can we see it in the night sky?" Gee whiz, how childishly uninformed.

Please take this constructively. Look up Halley's comet and find out how small it is and what makes it "flare up" in the night sky. You'll quickly and easily learn that Halley's Comet is shaped like a potato, about 5 miles by 5 miles by 10 miles in size, and prominently visible for a few months once every 76 years because of its tail, and certainly not from a position out where Neptune is.

Answer 4

Comets that far from the Sun usually cannot be seen, because they have no tail or coma and are not bright enough until the get a lot closer to the Sun, say about Jupiter's distance.