perihelion distance of the halley's comet
Comet Halley has a semimajor axis of 17.9 AU. (b)Find its perihelion and aphelion distances. Does Halleyâs Comet spend most of its time near its perihelion distance, near its aphelion distance, or halfway in between? Explain. Solution: We are told that Halleyâs comet has an eccentricity of 0.97 and in part (a), we calculated its semimajor axis to be 17.9 AU: perihelion distance = (17:9 AU) (1 0:97) = 0:537 AU