Swift-Tuttle Comet
CategoryComet
SystemSolar System
Diameter26 km
Orbital Period133 years
About Swift-Tuttle Comet
Parent body of the Perseid meteor shower, the best annual display of shooting stars. Discovered independently by Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle in 1862. Nucleus about 26 km across, one of the largest known. Orbits retrograde, raising its relative speed to 60 km per second near Earth. Next perihelion in 2126.
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