Halley's comet
Comet glowing amid stars
Comet after collision with probe
Surface of a comet
Hale-Bopp comet in the night sky
Solar system object Ceres
Meteor Crater in Arizona
Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet
Dark spots on Jupiter
Comet in red glow
Jet of dust from a comet
1 of 11
Halley's Comet
Of the thousands of known comets in the solar system, Halley's comet is one of some 200 that are periodic. Halley's comet orbits Earth every 76 years; the next flyby will occur in 2061.
Photograph by James Balog

Asteroids and Comets

See asteroid and comet photos from National Geographic.

Go Further