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
Hale-Bopp is on a super long orbit around the Sun, taking about 4,200 years to complete one trip. It was visible for a long time in 1997 because it was pretty close to Earth and the Sun at that point. Its orbit is highly elliptical, so it spends most of its time far away from the Sun and Earth, which is why we won’t see it again for a very long time. If you missed it back then, it’s just a case of bad timing or being too busy.
Latest Answers