Why Astronomy » What http://whyastronomy.co.uk Answers to the Why What Where When hoW and Who of Astronomy; thoughts and links to Astronomy content. Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:01:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 What does the P mean in a comet’s name? http://whyastronomy.co.uk/2008/09/06/what-does-the-p-mean-in-a-comets-name/ http://whyastronomy.co.uk/2008/09/06/what-does-the-p-mean-in-a-comets-name/#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:59:13 +0000 Steve Dangerfield http://whyastronomy.co.uk/2008/09/06/what-does-the-p-mean-in-a-comets-name/ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "What does the P mean in a comet’s name?", url: "http://whyastronomy.co.uk/2008/09/06/what-does-the-p-mean-in-a-comets-name/" } ); ]]> Came across a P/ prefix in a comet’s name and didn’t know what it was so I did a google search and found the following Wikipedia page; essentially a prefix is added to indicate the nature of the comet:

P/ = Periodic comet i.e. it’s orbit passes earth periodically

C/ = Non-periodic comet

X/ = No reliable orbit could be calculated

Am I missing something in the answer to this ’What’ then please leave your suggestion as a comment.

Until the next post… Clear Skies!  

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