great comet

English

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -ɒmɪt

Noun

great comet (plural great comets)

  1. (astronomy) A period of cometary activity when the comet becomes exceptionally bright.
    • 1999, Neil Bone, Observing Meteors, Comets, Supernovae and other Transient Phenomena, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN:
      When the next great comet will appear no one can say. In the interim, however, there will be plenty of lesser objects to observe.

Hyponyms
  • Great Comet of 2007 (Comet McNaught passage of 2007) (first great comet of 21st century)
  • Great Comet of 1997 (Comet Hale–Bopp passage of 1997) (last great comet of 20th century)
  • Great Comet of 1996 (Comet Hyakutake passage of 1996) (first great comet in two decades)
  • Great Comet of 1976 (Comet West passage of 1976) (brightest comet in half-a-century)
  • 1910 Halley's Comet (Halley's Comet passage of 1910) (second great comet of 1910)
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