List of periodic comets
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The following is the IAU's list of periodic comets that have a number designation.
Periodic comets do not receive a number designation until they have been observed at more than one perihelion approach. For a list of unnumbered periodic comets see Cometography.com (http://www.cometography.com/pernew.html).
In nearly all cases, comets are named after their discoverer(s), but in a few cases such as 2P/Encke and 27P/Crommelin they were named for a person who calculated their orbits. The orbits of periodic comets are especially tricky to calculate because of all the possible perturbations from every planet, and in the days before computers some people dedicated their entire careers to this. Even so, quite a few comets were lost because their orbits are also affected by non-gravitational effects such as the release of gas and other material that forms the comet's coma and tail.
See also
External links
- Minor Planet Center Periodic Comet Numbers (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/PeriodicCodes.html)
- Converter between old-style and new-style comet names (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/CometDes.html)
- Cometography.com Periodic Comets (http://www.cometography.com/periodic_comets.html)zh:週期彗星列表