Objects in your sky: Comets
1980
Nov 18 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Nov 22 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
Dec 06 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Dec 25 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
1985
Jan 03 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]Mar 26 – 24P/Schaumasse at perihelion[chart]
Sep 11 – 168P/Hergenrother at perihelion[chart]
1986
Jan 30 – 1P/Halley at perihelion[chart]Mar 15 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Oct 12 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]
1987
Mar 11 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]May 08 – 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup at perihelion[chart]
Jun 06 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Jun 26 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Nov 02 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
Nov 28 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
1988
Jul 02 – 66P/du Toit at perihelion[chart]Sep 17 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Nov 20 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
1990
Apr 13 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]May 03 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Oct 14 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Oct 18 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
1994
Jan 31 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Mar 27 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]
Jun 11 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Sep 08 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
Nov 22 – 262P/McNaught-Russell at perihelion[chart]
1995
Apr 12 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]Jun 14 – 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann at perihelion[chart]
Sep 01 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Sep 03 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
1997
Mar 16 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]Mar 30 – C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 22 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]
May 20 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2001
Sep 11 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]Sep 15 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
Nov 01 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Nov 02 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
2003
Jun 10 – 66P/du Toit at perihelion[chart]Nov 30 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Dec 26 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2004
Apr 28 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]Oct 13 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
Dec 03 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
2005
Jun 05 – 9P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]Jun 20 – 37P/Forbes at perihelion[chart]
Aug 15 – 21P/Giacobini-Zinner at perihelion[chart]
2006
Apr 29 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]Sep 02 – 177P/Barnard at perihelion[chart]
2008
Jan 28 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]Apr 13 – 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup at perihelion[chart]
May 28 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Dec 21 – 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at perihelion[chart]
2009
Feb 24 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]Apr 15 – C/2009 G1 (STEREO) at perihelion[chart]
Jun 09 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Sep 09 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Oct 17 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
2010
Feb 17 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]Jul 06 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Aug 01 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2016
Apr 12 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]Apr 13 – C/2015 WZ (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 19 – C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 17 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]
Aug 04 – 9P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Aug 10 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]
Dec 25 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
2017
Jan 13 – C/2016 U1 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]Mar 04 – C/2016 VZ18 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Mar 08 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Mar 18 – 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann at perihelion[chart]
Apr 10 – C/2017 E1 (Borisov) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 11 – 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak at perihelion[chart]
Apr 23 – C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) at perihelion[chart]
May 10 – C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Jun 11 – C/2015 V2 (Johnson) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 17 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Sep 09 – 1I/`Oumuamua at perihelion[chart]
Oct 15 – C/2017 O1 (ASASSN) at perihelion[chart]
Oct 24 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Nov 03 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]
Nov 14 – 24P/Schaumasse at perihelion[chart]
2018
Jan 27 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]Feb 20 – C/2017 T1 (Heinze) at perihelion[chart]
May 04 – 37P/Forbes at perihelion[chart]
May 08 – C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
May 19 – 66P/du Toit at perihelion[chart]
May 22 – C/2018 EF9 (Lemmon) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 18 – C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 01 – C/2018 N1 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 10 – C/2016 M1 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 13 – 48P/Johnson at perihelion[chart]
Aug 16 – C/2017 S3 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Sep 11 – 21P/Giacobini-Zinner at perihelion[chart]
Nov 11 – 38P/Stephan-Oterma at perihelion[chart]
Dec 02 – C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 03 – C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 12 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
2019
Feb 07 – C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) at perihelion[chart]May 11 – C/2018 W1 (Catalina) at perihelion[chart]
Jun 07 – C/2018 R3 (Lemmon) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 06 – 168P/Hergenrother at perihelion[chart]
Sep 05 – C/2018 W2 (Africano) at perihelion[chart]
Sep 11 – 260P/McNaught at perihelion[chart]
Nov 10 – C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 08 – 2I/Borisov at perihelion[chart]
2020
May 04 – C/2017 T2 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]May 28 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Jun 18 – C/2019 U6 at perihelion[chart]
Jun 25 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Jul 03 – C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 13 – C/2020 Q1 (Borisov) at perihelion[chart]
Sep 14 – C/2020 K8 (Catalina-ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Sep 26 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
Oct 20 – C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]
Oct 26 – C/2020 M3 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 01 – C/2019 N1 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 12 – C/2020 S3 (Erasmus) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 17 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Dec 27 – 398P/Boattini at perihelion[chart]
2021
Jan 22 – C/2021 A2 at perihelion[chart]Mar 02 – C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Mar 24 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Jul 10 – C/2020 T2 (Palomar) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 14 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Sep 10 – 4P/Faye at perihelion[chart]
Nov 03 – 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at perihelion[chart]
2022
Jan 10 – C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]Jan 12 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
Feb 02 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
Mar 03 – 9P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Mar 16 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Apr 26 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Jun 09 – C/2019 T4 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 24 – 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann at perihelion[chart]
Nov 22 – 118P/Shoemaker-Levy at perihelion[chart]
Dec 15 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]
Dec 19 – C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
2023
Jan 31 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]May 12 – 237P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Jul 13 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
Oct 14 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Dec 23 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]
2024
Jan 26 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]May 20 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
Jun 14 – 154P/Brewington at perihelion[chart]
Nov 29 – 333P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
2025
Mar 24 – 21P/Giacobini-Zinner at perihelion[chart]Nov 24 – 210P/Christensen at perihelion[chart]
Dec 22 – 240P/NEAT at perihelion[chart]
2026
Jan 12 – 24P/Schaumasse at perihelion[chart]Mar 17 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
Aug 01 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
2027
Jan 31 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Aug 24 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Oct 11 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
2028
Feb 04 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]May 08 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Aug 05 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Aug 24 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Dec 08 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
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.