Halley ’61

Apparently we are now at the halfway point of the orbit of Halley’s comet, where it starts to swing back in our direction from wherever it goes to, and it’ll be in our vicinity again in 2021.

By that time I’ll be in my late 80s, if I’m still alive, which I don’t expect to be. Then again, I’m surprised every time another birthday rolls around, so I could surprise myself in 38 years. I’ll be even more surprised if I can actually see the thing then, though; I have a feeling that diabetes will have claimed my eyesight long before. Might have to be content with having barely seen it back in 1986 (I don’t actually remember much about it, to be honest; the NASA picture above is better than I recall it being).

That said, the thing that’ll surprise me even more is if there’s anyone else going to be paying attention to it next time it comes round. I don’t know whether predictions of the end of human civilisation by 2050 are accurate (I suspect they may even be unduly optimistic), but if they are I feel like Halley’s return might be low on people’s priorities. Humanity is, as always, welcome to prove me wrong…