The Last Appearance
Halley’s comet was last visible in 1986. When the comet was extremely close to the sun, it was on the opposite side of the star from the earth. This made it appear like a distant object appearing as 39 million miles away from the Earth. It was the first time a spacecraft could be sent to it. Many spacecraft have been to the comet till now. This spaceships fleet sent was called as “Halley Armada.” Two joint French/Soviet (Vega 1 and 2) flew close by.
Halley’s Comet images from television in black and white, as they are sent back from the VEGA II spacecraft. | Location: Space Research Institute, Moscow, USSR. (Photo by Jonathan Blair/Corbis via Getty Images)
One of the two (Sakigake and Suisei) took pictures of Halley’s Comet. They gathered information about Halley. NASA’s International Cometary Explorer also took photos of the Halley’s Comet from 17.3 million miles away.