Long-Period Comets

The 'Great Comet of 1997', a long-period comet with an exceptionally large, active nucleus that remained visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months.

The 'Great Comet of 1996', which passed very close to Earth and displayed one of the longest comet tails ever recorded.

The 'Great Comet of 2007', the brightest comet in decades, whose vast fanned dust tail was a spectacular sight from the Southern Hemisphere.

The brightest comet visible from the Northern Hemisphere since Hale–Bopp, a naked-eye spectacle in July 2020 discovered by the NEOWISE space telescope.

A long-period comet that made an exceptionally close pass of Mars in October 2014, observed up close by the fleet of Mars orbiters and rovers.

A long-period comet on a roughly 415-year orbit, the parent body of the Lyrid meteor shower seen each April.