Comet Symbolism

Comets are unique cosmic bodies. Comet symbolism is associated with both good and bad omens. Comets orbit the sun the way planets do, but have a longer orbit and different composition. There are currently 3,743 comets known to be orbiting our sun. Comets can be thought of as cosmic snowballs made of frozen gases, rocks and dust. The tail of a comet is made of particles that burn off as the comet travels through space.

The Most Famous Comet of All

The most famous comet is Halley’s Comet, named after astronomer Edmund Halley. Halley was the first to realize that comets have a periodic orbit. He correctly predicted the return of his namesake in 1757 after observing it in 1682.

The Hale Bopp Comet

Another well-known comet is Hale Bopp. This massive comet that made a close approach to the earth is 1997. This was the closest approach of this comet in 4,000 years. The last time the comet was near Earth was during the Bronze age in 2000 BC.

Comparing Halley’s Comet and Hale Bopp

While Halley’s comet is 3.4 miles in radius, the Hale-Bopp comet is 18.6 miles in radius. It’s so bright that it was visible from earth as early as 1995 when it was still outside of Jupiter’s orbit. Another famous comet is Shoemaker Levy-9. This comet broke into 21 different pieces after experiencing the stress of Jupiter’s gravity in 1992.

Recent Comet Impacts

Then the comet slammed into the planet two years later in 1994. According to New Scientist magazine, “The impact of one fragment – around 3 km across – is said to have yielded an explosion and fireball equivalent to 6 million megatons of TNT. The plume reached 22,000 km (13,700 miles)….”