General information
Halley's Comet was theorised by Edmund Halley (1656 - 1742). Halley looked at a series of comet 'fly-bys' and their regularity as well as using newly formed , he looked at five main comet sightings and concluded that three of these, those in 1531, 1607 and 1682, were actually these same comet that was approaching Earth. This was thought to be the case as he believed that comets actually orbited the Sun in the same way that planets do, or in the same way moons orbit planets. Following this, he predicted that the same comet he had seen in 1682 would in fact approach Earth another 76 years later. It approached Earth again in 1758 just as he had predicted, alas he had died 16 years earlier and was unable to see the event again. After this, the comet was thus named Halley's Comet. [1]
Using the way that Halley was able to predict the reappearance of his comet, it is possible to look in ancient texts and historical finds and see when the comet had passed previously and been observed, this can be seen on Orbit and Recorded Sightings. The oldest record of a comet which is likely to be Halley's Comet is from 240 BC by the Chinese in a chronicle called Records of the Grand Historian. [1]
Using the way that Halley was able to predict the reappearance of his comet, it is possible to look in ancient texts and historical finds and see when the comet had passed previously and been observed, this can be seen on Orbit and Recorded Sightings. The oldest record of a comet which is likely to be Halley's Comet is from 240 BC by the Chinese in a chronicle called Records of the Grand Historian. [1]