Halley's Comet Quiz: The 76-Year Return and the 2061 Visit

This Halley's Comet quiz tracks the famous icy visitor across centuries of human history. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on Edmond Halley's prediction, the 1758 return, the Bayeux Tapestry, Giotto's painting, Mark Twain, the 1986 pass, the Giotto probe, meteor showers and its next return in 2061.

Start Halley's Comet Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Period
About how often does Halley's Comet return?
Predictor
Who predicted the comet's return?
Return
In which year did it return as Halley predicted?
Tapestry
Which artwork shows the comet's 1066 visit?
Twain
Which writer was born and died in comet years?
Last
When was the comet's last close pass?
Probe
Which European probe flew close to its nucleus?
Painter
Which Italian painter showed a comet like Halley's in a nativity scene?
Showers
Which meteor shower comes from Halley's debris?
Next
When will Halley's Comet next pass closest to the Sun?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: About how often does Halley's Comet return?
Answer: Every 76 years
It can vary by a few years.
Q2: Who predicted the comet's return?
Answer: Edmond Halley
He used Newton's laws.
Q3: In which year did it return as Halley predicted?
Answer: 1758
He had died years before.
Q4: Which artwork shows the comet's 1066 visit?
Answer: The Bayeux Tapestry
It appeared before the Norman conquest.
Q5: Which writer was born and died in comet years?
Answer: Mark Twain
He was born in 1835 and died in 1910.
Q6: When was the comet's last close pass?
Answer: 1986
It was faint from Earth.
Q7: Which European probe flew close to its nucleus?
Answer: Giotto
It was named after a painter.
Q8: Which Italian painter showed a comet like Halley's in a nativity scene?
Answer: Giotto di Bondone
It is in the Scrovegni Chapel.
Q9: Which meteor shower comes from Halley's debris?
Answer: The Orionids
The Eta Aquariids do too.
Q10: When will Halley's Comet next pass closest to the Sun?
Answer: 2061
Many people alive today may see it.

Halley'S Comet Quiz – The 76-Year Return and the 2061 Visit

Halley's Comet orbits the Sun about every 76 years. In 1705 Edmond Halley used Newton's laws to show that comets seen in 1531, 1607 and 1682 were the same object and predicted its return.

It came back in 1758, years after his death, and was named in his honor. Records of the comet go back thousands of years, including the Bayeux Tapestry in 1066 and Giotto's nativity painting.

Mark Twain was born and died in comet years. In 1986 the Giotto probe flew close to its dark nucleus, and dust from its path causes the Orionid and Eta Aquariid meteor showers. Its next close pass to the Sun comes in 2061.

What This Quiz Teaches

Astronomy fans will enjoy these questions.

How often it returns
Who predicted it
Where it appears in history
Which probes studied it
When it will return

Did You Know?

Its nucleus is about 15 kilometers long.
It reached its farthest point from the Sun in 2023.
Its tail always points away from the Sun.
Some people feared poison gas from its tail in 1910.
It is the most famous periodic comet.