Objects in your sky: Comets

by Dominic Ford

Below is a list of the brightest few comets that are visible at present.

You are welcome to reproduce the text below for non-profit purposes, providing you credit In-The-Sky.org.

Comet name Mag Constellation Separation
from Sun
Trend Absolute magnitude
last updated
Comet name Mag Constellation Separation
from Sun
Trend Absolute magnitude
last updated
C/2020 V2 (ZTF)10.2Aries29°
Brightening
(peak at mag 9.7 on 2 Sep 2023)
3 Jan 2023
C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)10.6Lepus38°
Fading
3 Jan 2023
C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)11.5Pyxis80°
Fading
2 May 2023
81P/Wild11.5Ophiuchus174°
Fading
4 Dec 2018
C/2023 E1 (ATLAS)11.6Draco74°
Brightening
(peak at mag 10.1 on 8 Jul 2023)
1 Jun 2023
C/2021 T4 (Lemmon)11.7Cetus75°
Brightening
(peak at mag 9.0 on 21 Jul 2023)
1 May 2023
C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)11.8Octans118°
Fading
(peak at mag 11.8 on 4 Jun 2023)
2 May 2023
185P/Petriew12.1Aries43°
Brightening
(peak at mag 11.4 on 8 Jul 2023)
2 Apr 2018
237P/LINEAR12.2Aquila134°
Brightening
(peak at mag 12.1 on 30 Jun 2023)
3 Apr 2023
C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)12.7Andromeda54°
Fading
3 Jan 2023
C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)12.9Sextans82°
Fading
2 May 2023
77P/Longmore13.2Centaurus130°
Fading
(peak at mag 12.7 on 22 Apr 2023)
4 Dec 2018
C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)13.3Canis Major50°
Brightening
2 May 2023
C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)13.6Serpens Caput128°
Fading
3 Jan 2023
116P/Wild13.8Sagittarius139°
Fading
(peak at mag 13.8 on 25 May 2023)
4 Dec 2018
C/2022 E3 (ZTF)13.9Lepus40°
Fading
1 Mar 2023
C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)14.0Canis Major57°
Fading
(peak at mag 13.9 on 6 May 2023)
2 May 2023
P/2014 W1 (PANSTARRS)14.5Pisces67°
Brightening
(peak at mag 12.8 on 23 Oct 2023)
16 Apr 2015
118P/Shoemaker-Levy14.6Leo72°
Fading
4 Dec 2018
364P/PANSTARRS14.7Cetus59°
Fading
1 Jun 2023
71P/Clark14.9Cetus71°
Fading
2 May 2023
C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)15.1Hercules123°
Fading
1 Aug 2022
C/2021 X1 (Maury-Attard)15.2Cetus39°
Brightening
(peak at mag 14.3 on 20 Sep 2023)
3 Feb 2023
110P/Hartley15.3Virgo125°
Fading
29 Feb 2012
2P/Encke15.7Aries44°
Brightening
(peak at mag 6.2 on 21 Oct 2023)
14 Mar 2017

The position of each comet is calculated from orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC).

The brightnesses of comets are estimated from magnitude parameters published by the BAA Comet Section, where these are available. These are computed from the observations they receive from amateur astronomers.

Comets are intrinsically highly unpredictable objects, since their brightness depends on the scattering of sunlight from dust particles in the comet's coma and tail. This dust is continually streaming away from the comet's nucleus, and its density at any particular time is governed by the rate of sublimation of the ice in the comet's nucleus, as it is heated by the Sun's rays. It also depends on the amount of dust that is mixed in with that ice. This is very difficult to predict in advance, and can be highly variable even between successive apparitions of the same comet.

In consequence, while the future positions of comets are usually known with a high degree of confidence, their future brightnesses are not. For most comets, we do not publish any magnitude estimates at all. For the few comets where we do make estimates, we generally prefer the BAA's magnitude parameters to those published by the Minor Planet Center, since they are typically updated more often.

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