Comet Hyakutake

Official Name: Comet Hyakutake, also designated Comet C/1996 B2

Perihelion Distance: 0.23019 AU, at the time of discovery it was 2.0 AU away from Earth.

Period: Comet Hyakutake has a long period. Its orbital rotation is 200 years. It visits the inner solar system once every 70,000 years.

Interior properties: Astronomers detected a large but equal amount of ethane and methane gases inside the comet. Astronomers imply that the ice must be formed away from the sun and the gases are released as it approaches a large heat source. The comet’s water ices have also exposed amounts of deuterium.

Mission Summary: The only spacecraft to get close to Comet Hyakutake was the Ulysses spacecraft. The spacecraft actually “ran” into the tail of the comet and collected a large amount of data. That data is still being combed through. A large amount of knowledge on long-period comets came from Comet Hyakutake.