# The most famous comets

From Halley's Comet, observed since antiquity, to NEOWISE in 2020, by way of Hale-Bopp and Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into Jupiter: the comets that left their mark. Which one did you see?

- 0 votes · 15 items
- Jan 13, 2023 · G. Côté
- https://even.best/en/l/2404/the-most-famous-comets

## Top 15

1. **Halley's Comet** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The first periodic comet identified; it returns every 75-76 years and is due back in 2061.
2. **Hale-Bopp** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Visible to the naked eye for 18 months in 1996-97, a record.
3. **Shoemaker-Levy 9** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Broken into pieces, it slammed into Jupiter in July 1994.
4. **Ikeya-Seki** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — So bright in 1965 it could be seen in broad daylight.
5. **Comet West** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Visible in daylight in 1976, with a spectacular tail.
6. **Hyakutake** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Its tail stretched across a huge part of the sky in 1996.
7. **McNaught** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The "Great Comet of 2007", superb in the southern hemisphere.
8. **NEOWISE** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — The comet of summer 2020, visible to the naked eye.
9. **Kohoutek** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Much hyped in 1973 and disappointing, but the first observed from space by astronauts.
10. **Bennett** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A long filament-filled tail in 1970.
11. **IRAS-Araki-Alcock** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Passed very close to Earth in 1983.
12. **Holmes** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — It became hundreds of thousands of times brighter in 2007.
13. **Lovejoy** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — In 2011 it survived its passage through the Sun's corona.
14. **NEAT** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A bright comet of 2002-03.
15. **PanSTARRS** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A lovely sight through binoculars in 2013.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.