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

It’s still orbiting the sun, but the distance becomes so huge that it’s hard to show in an animation.