Editing Comet (section)

== Nomenclature ==
{{Main|Naming of comets}}
[[File:Halley's Comet, 1910.JPG|thumb|[[Halley's Comet]] in 1910]]

The names given to comets have followed several different conventions over the past two centuries. Prior to the early 20th century, most comets were referred to by the year when they appeared, sometimes with additional adjectives for particularly bright comets; thus, the "[[Great Comet of 1680]]", the "[[Great Comet of 1882]]", and the "[[Great January Comet of 1910]]".

After [[Edmond Halley]] demonstrated that the comets of 1531, 1607, and 1682 were the same body and successfully predicted its return in 1759 by calculating its orbit, that comet became known as [[Halley's Comet]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Ridpath |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Ridpath |title=Halley and his Comet |url=http://www.ianridpath.com/halley/halley4.htm |work=A brief history of Halley's Comet |date=3 July 2008 |access-date=14 August 2013}}</ref> Similarly, the second and third known periodic comets, [[Encke's Comet]]<ref name="KronkEncke">{{cite web |last=Kronk |first=Gary W. |title=2P/Encke |url=http://cometography.com/pcomets/002p.html |work=Gary W. Kronk's Cometography |access-date=14 August 2013}}</ref> and [[Biela's Comet]],<ref name="KronkBiela">{{cite web |last=Kronk |first=Gary W. |title=3D/Biela |url=http://cometography.com/pcomets/003d.html |work=Gary W. Kronk's Cometography |access-date=14 August 2013}}</ref> were named after the astronomers who calculated their orbits rather than their original discoverers. Later, periodic comets were usually named after their discoverers, but comets that had appeared only once continued to be referred to by the year of their appearance.<ref name="harvcom"/>

In the early 20th century, the convention of naming comets after their discoverers became common, and this remains so today. A comet can be named after its discoverers or an instrument or program that helped to find it.<ref name="harvcom">{{cite web |url=http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/cometnames.html |title=Comet Names and Designations; Comet Naming and Nomenclature; Names of Comets |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=7 September 2013}}</ref> For example, in 2019, astronomer [[Gennadiy Borisov]] observed a comet that appeared to have originated outside of the solar system; the comet was named [[2I/Borisov]] after him.<ref name=Christensen2019>{{cite press release|last1=Christensen |first1=Lars Lindberg|title=Naming of new interstellar visitor: 2I/Borisov|website=International Astronomical Union|url=https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau1910/|access-date=24 September 2019}}</ref>