ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (08/21/85)
For your calendar file, here is a summary of some upcoming events of interest. Data from Sky & Telescope, Planetary Report, and the Caltech News. Corrections and additions welcome (please post them). November 26, 1985 Planetary Society special on Halley's Comet, PBS November 27, 1985 Halley's Comet inbound closest Earth approach, 57.6M miles January 24, 1986 Voyager 2 encounter with Uranus February 9, 1986 Halley's Comet perihelion, 1030 UT, 53.1M miles March 6, 1986 Vega 1 (USSR) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 10000km March 8, 1986 Planet A (Japan) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 100,000km March 9, 1986 Vega 2 (USSR) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 3000-10000km March 13, 1986 Giotto (ESA) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 500km March 28, 1986 Int'l Cometary Explorer (NASA) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 3Mkm April 22, 1986 Halley's Comet outbound closest Earth approach, 39M miles
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (09/06/85)
>March 28, 1986 Int'l Cometary Explorer (NASA) fly-by of Halley's Comet, 3Mkm
3Mkm isn't a fly-by, it's a fly-in-the-vague-neighborhood-of. Especially
since the "International Cometary Explorer" is not very well equipped for
studying comets. Unless one is trying to be a fanatical completist, this
does not belong in the same list as Giotto or Planet A. Back when the ICE
was still ISEE3, it held the record for being the farthest object that
could still be said, in a very loose sense, to be in "Earth orbit" -- and
it was closer to Earth than it will ever get to Halley.
Okay, include it -- but please don't call that a "fly-by".
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry