<p><em>A</em> drastic change to its period?  Certainly.  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp#Orbital_changes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Comet Hale-Bopp</a>, for example, had its period shortened by about 1800 years as a result of a close encounter with Jupiter.</p>
<p><em>Repeated</em> changes?  Highly unlikely.  The only way to get a major change in a comet's period is through a gravitational interaction with a planet, and those are rare.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-06T04:12:53.243Z
2024-04-06T04:12:53.243Z
Mark
<p>Can a comet change drastically the timing of its periodical return to Earth's proximity? To be even more explicit, can a comet spend, for example, 1000 years between two passages near Earth, and then need 1500 years before being back again, and then return to its previous 1000 years cycle, and then again, 1300 years, then 1700, then 900, and so on? Or is it physically impossible?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-06T12:59:59.780Z
Does this answer your question? [How frequently does a comet drastically change its orbit in the Solar System (like 67P did in 1959)?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/12992/how-frequently-does-a-comet-drastically-change-its-orbit-in-the-solar-system-li)
Nilay Ghosh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-07T17:20:37.317Z
@Nilay Ghosh Thank you immensely!!!
FringesExplorer
<eccentric-orbit>
Comets with mutable orbit
FringesExplorer
# Comets with mutable orbit

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-06)

Can a comet change drastically the timing of its periodical return to Earth's proximity? To be even more explicit, can a comet spend, for example, 1000 years between two passages near Earth, and then need 1500 years before being back again, and then return to its previous 1000 years cycle, and then again, 1300 years, then 1700, then 900, and so on? Or is it physically impossible?

**Tags:** eccentric-orbit
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does this answer your question? [How frequently does a comet drastically change its orbit in the Solar System (like 67P did in 1959)?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/12992/how-frequently-does-a-comet-drastically-change-its-orbit-in-the-solar-system-li)  
> **username_0**: @Nilay Ghosh Thank you immensely!!!  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-04-06. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

*A* drastic change to its period? Certainly. [Comet Hale-Bopp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp#Orbital_changes), for example, had its period shortened by about 1800 years as a result of a close encounter with Jupiter.

*Repeated* changes? Highly unlikely. The only way to get a major change in a comet's period is through a gravitational interaction with a planet, and those are rare.


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