Where has Hale-Bopp gone so it won’t return for 4200 years? What is it orbiting?

Question

I went to Wikipedia, and they have a nice animation, but it doesn’t show its entire path. And I can’t figure out what it is orbiting and why it was seen for so long. My sister remembers it being in the sky for weeks (1997), but I don’t remember ever seeing it. I know I was busy, but how could I possibly be THAT busy?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

This should help. It’s a visualisation of Hale-Bopp’s orbit. It’s orbiting the Sun.

[https://theskylive.com/3dsolarsystem?obj=halebopp](https://theskylive.com/3dsolarsystem?obj=halebopp)