C/1996 B2

E113612

C/1996 B2 is the official designation of Comet Hyakutake, a bright long-period comet that passed unusually close to Earth in 1996 and became one of the most spectacular comets of the 20th century.

All labels observed (3)

Label Occurrences
Comet Hyakutake 3
C/1996 B2 canonical 2
C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf long-period comet
near-Earth comet
non-periodic comet
apparentMagnitudeAtPeak about 0
belongsTo Solar System
causedEnhancedCometResearch true
closestApproachToEarthDate 1996-03-25
closestApproachToEarthDistance 0.101 AU
about 15 million kilometers
discoveredBy Yuji Hyakutake
discoveryDate 1996-01-30
discoverySite near Hayato, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
eccentricity 0.9999
epoch 1996-02-17
followedBy Comet Hale–Bopp in peak brightness
hasAlternativeName Hyakutake
hasComa true
hasDiscoveryDesignation C/1996 B2 self-link
hasDustTail true
hasGasDetected carbon monoxide
ethane
hydrogen cyanide
methane
hasIonTail true
hasNucleusEstimatedDiameter about 2–4 kilometers
hasOfficialName C/1996 B2 self-linksurface differs
surface form: Comet Hyakutake
hasOrbitalReferencePlane ecliptic
hasRetrogradeOrbit true
inclination 124 degrees
isCometOf 1996 apparition
namedAfter Yuji Hyakutake
orbitalCategory Oort Cloud comet
orbitalPeriod approximately 70,000 years
perihelionDate 1996-05-01
perihelionDistance 0.230 AU
perihelionPassageYear 1996
precededBy Comet Hale–Bopp in discovery publicity
spectacularCometOfCentury 20th century
spectralType typical Oort Cloud comet composition
tailLengthObserved over 80 degrees
wasObservedBy Hubble Space Telescope
Ulysses spacecraft
wasOneOfClosestApproachesByBrightCometIn20thCentury true
wasVisibleFrom Northern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
wasVisibleToNakedEye true

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (6)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Hyakutake officialName C/1996 B2
subject surface form: Comet Hyakutake
C/1996 B2 hasOfficialName C/1996 B2 self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Comet Hyakutake
C/1996 B2 hasDiscoveryDesignation C/1996 B2 self-link
Hyakutake Yuji discovered C/1996 B2
this entity surface form: Comet Hyakutake
Hyakutake Yuji astronomicalObjectDiscovered C/1996 B2
this entity surface form: C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake)
Hyakutake Yuji astronomicalObjectDiscovered C/1996 B2
this entity surface form: Comet Hyakutake