\<COLOUR 1> NAMED AFTER: \<COLOUR 0> Edmond Halley (England, 1656-1719)
\<COLOUR 1> DIMENSIONS: \<COLOUR 0> About 15 km long and 8 km across
\<COLOUR 1> ORBITS SUN IN: \<COLOUR 0> 75/6 years
\<COLOUR 1> FIRST SEEN: \<COLOUR 0> 240 BC?
\<COLOUR 1> LAST SEEN: \<COLOUR 0> 1986
\<COLOUR 1> NEXT RETURN: \<COLOUR 0> 2061
\<COLOUR 1> CLOSEST APPROACH TO SUN: \<COLOUR 0> 88,000,000 km (February 9, 1986)
\<COLOUR 1> CLOSEST APPROACH TO EARTH: \<COLOUR 0> 63,000,000 km (April 11, 1986)
\<COLOUR 1> COMMENTS: \<COLOUR 0> The most famous of comets, and the first investigated by space probes - Vega 1 and 2 (USSR), Giotto (Europe), and Sakigaki and Suisei (Japan) - in 1986.