Archive of Astronomy Questions and Answers

Will Halley's Comet ever strike the Earth?

I looked at my copy of Guy Ottewell and Fred Schaaf's 'Mankinds Comet' published in 1985, ISBN 0-934546-15-0 which gives the orbits for this comet to the year 2134. Here are the years of closest approach to the Earth:

Year.............Distance in AU
1404 BC            0.033
164 BC             0.107
374 AD             0.0884
607 AD             0.0897
837 AD             0.0334
1910 AD            0.1514

And here are the nearest distances and dates for the next apparitions:

Year...............Distance
April 10, 1986       0.4174
July 29, 2061        0.4773
May 7, 2134          0.0925

Clearly, Halley's has been within 0.08 AU or 7.2 million miles of the Earth several times, but given its current path, it is not likely to get close enough to be a problem for the forseeable future.