The following table shows Earth close approaches by comets prior to 1900 within approximately 40 lunar distances (LD), sorted by close approach distance.
| Comet Name | Designation | Date | Miss Dist. (au) | Miss Dist. (LD) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lexell | D/1770 L1 | 1770-Jul-01.7 | 0.0151 | 5.9 | |
| Tempel-Tuttle | 55P/1366 U1 | 1366-Oct-26.4 | 0.0229 | 8.9 | |
| Halley | 1P/ 837 F1 | 837-Apr-10.5 | 0.0334 | 13.0 | |
| Biela | 3D/1805 V1 | 1805-Dec-09.9 | 0.0366 | 14.2 | |
| Comet of 1743 | C/1743 C1 | 1743-Feb-08.9 | 0.0390 | 15.2 | |
| Comet of 1014 | C/1014 C1 | 1014-Feb-24.9 | 0.0407 | 15.8 | * |
| Comet of 1702 | C/1702 H1 | 1702-Apr-20.2 | 0.0437 | 17.0 | |
| Comet of 1132 | C/1132 T1 | 1132-Oct-07.2 | 0.0447 | 17.4 | * |
| Comet of 1351 | C/1351 W1 | 1351-Nov-29.4 | 0.0479 | 18.6 | * |
| Comet of 1345 | C/1345 O1 | 1345-Jul-31.9 | 0.0485 | 18.9 | * |
| Comet of 1499 | C/1499 Q1 | 1499-Aug-17.1 | 0.0588 | 22.9 | * |
| Comet of 1080 | C/1080 P1 | 1080-Aug-05.7 | 0.0641 | 24.9 | * |
| Great comet | C/1760 A1 | 1760-Jan-08.2 | 0.0681 | 26.5 | |
| Comet of 1472 | C/1471 Y1 | 1472-Jan-22.9 | 0.0690 | 26.9 | * |
| Comet of 400 | C/ 400 F1 | 400-Mar-31.1 | 0.0767 | 29.8 | * |
| Comet of 1556 | C/1556 D1 | 1556-Mar-13.0 | 0.0835 | 32.5 | * |
| Schweizer | C/1853 G1 | 1853-Apr-29.1 | 0.0839 | 32.7 | |
| Bouvard-Herschel | C/1797 P1 | 1797-Aug-16.5 | 0.0879 | 34.2 | |
| Halley | 1P/ 374 E1 | 374-Apr-01.9 | 0.0884 | 34.4 | |
| Halley | 1P/ 607 H1 | 607-Apr-19.2 | 0.0898 | 34.9 | |
| Comet of 568 | C/ 568 O1 | 568-Sep-25.7 | 0.0918 | 35.7 | * |
| Messier | C/1763 S1 | 1763-Sep-23.7 | 0.0934 | 36.3 | |
| Tempel | C/1864 N1 | 1864-Aug-08.4 | 0.0964 | 37.5 | |
| Schmidt | C/1862 N1 | 1862-Jul-04.6 | 0.0982 | 38.2 | |
| Comet of 390 | C/ 390 Q1 | 390-Aug-18.9 | 0.1002 | 39.0 | * |
* The miss distance is uncertain because this comet’s orbit is relatively poorly determined.
au (astronomical unit) ~150 million kilometers (see glossary for definition)
LD (lunar distance) ~384,000 kilometers (see glossary for definition)
Note: The comet of 1491 (1491 B1) has been removed from this table since its orbit is no longer thought to be reliable. See I. Hasegawa, Publ. Astronomical Society of Japan, 2002, vol. 54, pp. 1091-1099.