Has Halleys Comet ever come close to hitting earth?
No. The closest that Comet Halley ever came to earth was in the year 837. It came within less than four million miles of the Earth. This was the 15th recorded visit of the comet to the vicinity of earth. In 1910 Halley’s Comet came within 13 million miles of the Earth. In 1986 it only came within 38 million miles of Earth. The closest comet to approach Earth was Lexell’s comet in 1770, at a distance of 1.39 million miles. Other close encounters were comet IRAS-Iraki-Alock 1983d, at 2.9 million miles, and comet Sugano-Saigusha-Fujikawa 1983e, which came within 8 million miles. Halley’s comet doesn’t make the list of Earth Grazing Comets! The 1986 return was the thirtieth RECORDED return of Halley’s comet (in other words, we have written records of the 76-year returns of the comet beginning in 239 BC. The 1986 return was only the fourth PREDICTED return of Halley’s Comet. You see, Edmond Halley saw the comet in 1682 and speculated that it was the same comet that was here in1607 and on pr
