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Teaching tools > Solar system > Overview: Comet Halley facts > Fast Facts: Comet Halley
| Description | Halley is perhaps the most famous comet in history. This is the comet that proved correct Edmund Halley's prediction that it would reappear. It is responsible for depositing the debris that, when falling through Earth's atmosphere, causes the Orionid meteor showers. |
| Age | About the same age as the Sun: 4.5 billion years |
| Location | Outer solar system — Kuiper belt |
| Avg. distance from the Sun | It has a highly elongated orbit that takes it very close to the Sun and then flings it out into the outer solar system, well past the orbit of Pluto. |
| Diameter | The size of the nucleus has been estimated to be 15 km x 7 km x 7 km (or 9 mi x 4 mi x 4 mi). |
| Mass | 1.7 x 1015 kilograms |
| Orbital period around the Sun | 76 Earth years |
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(Image courtesy of NASA)
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Teaching tools > Solar system > Overview: Comet Halley facts > Fast Facts: Comet Halley