Objects in your sky: Comets
1980
Oct 04 – 8P/Tuttle at perihelion[chart]Oct 26 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Nov 25 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Nov 25 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
1986
Feb 15 – 1P/Halley at perihelion[chart]Mar 05 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Sep 04 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]
Dec 26 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]
1987
May 05 – 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup at perihelion[chart]Jun 07 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Nov 13 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
Nov 26 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
1988
Jun 23 – 66P/duToit at perihelion[chart]Sep 13 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Nov 17 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
1990
Apr 18 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]Apr 21 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Sep 27 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Oct 21 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
1991
Jun 13 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]Oct 09 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
Oct 10 – 4P/Faye at perihelion[chart]
1994
Jan 17 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Feb 26 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]
May 23 – 8P/Tuttle at perihelion[chart]
Jun 15 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Sep 17 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
1995
Apr 08 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]Jun 16 – 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann at perihelion[chart]
Aug 15 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Aug 19 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
1997
Mar 16 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]Mar 29 – C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 16 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]
May 08 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2001
Aug 19 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]Sep 17 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
Oct 31 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Nov 05 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Dec 29 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
2003
Jun 06 – 66P/duToit at perihelion[chart]Nov 19 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Dec 19 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2004
Apr 27 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]Oct 16 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
Oct 18 – 78P/Gehrels at perihelion[chart]
Dec 02 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
2006
Apr 22 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]Sep 04 – 177P/Barnard at perihelion[chart]
2008
Jan 09 – 8P/Tuttle at perihelion[chart]Jan 28 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
Apr 12 – 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup at perihelion[chart]
May 26 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Dec 26 – 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at perihelion[chart]
2009
Feb 09 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]Apr 17 – C/2009 G1 (STEREO) at perihelion[chart]
Jun 12 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Sep 11 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Oct 16 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
2010
Feb 14 – 81P/Wild at perihelion[chart]Jul 08 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Jul 30 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
2013
Nov 19 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Dec 01 – C/2012 S1 (ISON) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 06 – 154P/Brewington at perihelion[chart]
2015
Mar 31 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]Apr 07 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
Dec 09 – C/2014 S2 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
2017
Mar 10 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Apr 10 – 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak at perihelion[chart]
Apr 10 – C/2017 E1 (Borisov) 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 18 – 217P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Sep 09 – 1I/`Oumuamua at perihelion[chart]
Oct 15 – C/2017 O1 (ASASSN) at perihelion[chart]
Oct 23 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Oct 24 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]
Nov 11 – 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 09 – C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
May 18 – 66P/duToit at perihelion[chart]
May 21 – C/2018 EF9 (Lemmon) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 18 – C/2017 T3 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 02 – 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 02 – C/2018 L2 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Dec 12 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
2019
Feb 06 – 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 05 – 168P/Hergenrother at perihelion[chart]
Sep 05 – C/2018 W2 (Africano) at perihelion[chart]
Sep 10 – 260P/McNaught at perihelion[chart]
Nov 11 – 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 27 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Jun 18 – C/2019 U6 (Lemmon) at perihelion[chart]
Jun 30 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Jul 03 – C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 14 – 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 25 – 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 16 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Dec 26 – 398P/Boattini at perihelion[chart]
2021
Jan 22 – C/2021 A2 (NEOWISE) at perihelion[chart]Feb 27 – C/2021 D1 (SWAN) at perihelion[chart]
Mar 01 – C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Mar 24 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Jul 11 – C/2020 T2 (Palomar) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 13 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]
Aug 27 – 8P/Tuttle at perihelion[chart]
Sep 08 – 4P/Faye at perihelion[chart]
Nov 02 – 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at perihelion[chart]
2022
Jan 03 – C/2021 A1 (Leonard) at perihelion[chart]Jan 09 – C/2019 L3 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Jan 11 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
Feb 01 – 19P/Borrelly at perihelion[chart]
Mar 04 – 9P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Mar 18 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Apr 06 – C/2021 F1 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 21 – C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
Apr 26 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Jun 11 – C/2021 E3 (ZTF) at perihelion[chart]
Jul 30 – C/2021 P4 (ATLAS) at perihelion[chart]
Aug 25 – 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann at perihelion[chart]
Nov 24 – 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]Mar 29 – C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
May 08 – C/2020 V2 at perihelion[chart]
May 09 – C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS) at perihelion[chart]
May 14 – 237P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
Jul 12 – 185P/Petriew at perihelion[chart]
Oct 21 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]
Dec 24 – 62P/Tsuchinshan at perihelion[chart]
2024
Jan 25 – 144P/Kushida at perihelion[chart]May 19 – 46P/Wirtanen at perihelion[chart]
Jun 11 – 154P/Brewington at perihelion[chart]
Nov 29 – 333P/LINEAR at perihelion[chart]
2025
Mar 25 – 21P/Giacobini-Zinner at perihelion[chart]Nov 23 – 210P/Christensen at perihelion[chart]
Dec 20 – 240P/NEAT at perihelion[chart]
2026
Jan 09 – 24P/Schaumasse at perihelion[chart]Mar 18 – 88P/Howell at perihelion[chart]
Apr 22 – 141P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Jun 24 – 78P/Gehrels at perihelion[chart]
Aug 01 – 10P/Tempel at perihelion[chart]
Nov 14 – 69P/Taylor at perihelion[chart]
Nov 28 – 161P/Hartley-IRAS at perihelion[chart]
2027
Feb 09 – 2P/Encke at perihelion[chart]Aug 28 – 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at perihelion[chart]
Oct 11 – 104P/Kowal at perihelion[chart]
2028
Feb 05 – 15P/Finlay at perihelion[chart]May 09 – 96P/Machholz at perihelion[chart]
Aug 03 – 22P/Kopff at perihelion[chart]
Aug 30 – 58P/Jackson-Neujmin at perihelion[chart]
Dec 06 – 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.