Comet West, formally C/1975 V1, was discovered by the Danish astronomer Richard West at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, on photographic plates. It became one of the most spectacular comets of the twentieth century. In March 1976 it was bright enough to be seen in daylight and later displayed a broad, feathery dust tail that spread across the dawn sky. After its closest approach to the Sun, the nucleus split into several fragments, an event that was followed by astronomers around the world. Its orbit is very long, with a period estimated in hundreds of thousands of years, so it will not return in any human timescale.
Before and after
- 1975Founding of Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States
- 1975Invention of bc
- 1975Origins of Liiga
- 19751975 Australian constitutional crisis
- 1975Discovery of Comet West
- 1975Founding of Papua New Guinea
- 1975Establishment of Mana Pools
- from 1975 to 1988Rise of Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
- 1975Founding of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
More in Universe & space
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 20 January 1986Discovery of Ophelia
- 19 February 1986Launch of Mir
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.