List of periodic comets
Wikimedia list article
Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes used to mean any comet with a periodic orbit, even if greater than 200 years.
Periodic comets receive a permanent number prefix usually after the second perihelion passage, which is why there are a number of unnumbered periodic comets, such as P/2005 T5 (Broughton). Comets that are not observed after a number of perihelion passages, or presumed to be destroyed, are given the D designation, and likewise comets given a periodic number and subsequently lost are given [n]D instead of [n]P, such as 3D/Biela or 5D/Brorsen.
In nearly all cases, comets are named after their discoverers, but in a few cases such as 2P/Encke and 27P/Crommelin they were named for a person who determined their orbits. The long-term orbits of comets can be difficult to calculate due to errors in the known trajectory that can accumulate from perturbations from the planets. Even so, quite a few comets were lost because their orbits are also affected by non-gravitational effects such as the release of gas and other material that forms the comet's coma and tail. Unlike a long-period comet, the next perihelion passage of a numbered periodic comet can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy.
Periodic comets sometimes bear the same name repeatedly (e.g.
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