Bright comets in the coming 12 months
The below table lists all comets that are expected to become brighter than magnitude 15 in the coming 12 months.
For detailed information about a comet, click on its designation.
| Comet(s) |
Today |
Perihelion |
Nearest approach |
| designation |
magn |
delta |
radius |
date |
magn |
radius |
date |
magn |
delta |
174P/Echeclus | 15.3 | 6.85 AU | 7.39 AU | 19 Apr 2015 | 12.7 | 5.87 AU | 9 Sep 2015 | 12.1 | 4.90 AU | 66P/duToit | 18.8 | 2.43 AU | 2.09 AU | 12 May 2018 | 11.3 | 1.31 AU | 15 Aug 2018 | 15.0 | 1.00 AU | 38P/Stephan-Oterma | 22.0 | 4.48 AU | 3.82 AU | 13 Nov 2018 | 6.8 | 1.58 AU | 15 Dec 2018 | 6.9 | 0.73 AU | 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann | 12.3 | 6.52 AU | 5.84 AU | 1 May 2019 | 12.3 | 5.80 AU | 9 Sep 2018 | 11.6 | 4.80 AU | C/2018 N2 (ASASSN) | 17.2 | 6.94 AU | 6.77 AU | 12 Nov 2019 | 11.8 | 3.14 AU | 18 Oct 2019 | 11.7 | 2.23 AU | 463P/NEOWISE | 17.4 | 0.85 AU | 0.96 AU | 10 Feb 2018 | 12.4 | 0.52 AU | 7 Feb 2018 | 12.4 | 0.51 AU | 364P/PANSTARRS | 23.1 | 1.55 AU | 2.14 AU | 1 Jun 2018 | 10.5 | 0.82 AU | 14 May 2018 | 9.7 | 0.16 AU | 185P/Petriew | 12.6 | 1.50 AU | 1.00 AU | 26 Jan 2018 | 12.0 | 0.93 AU | 16 Feb 2018 | 12.2 | 1.31 AU | 62P/Tsuchinshan | 13.2 | 1.60 AU | 1.55 AU | 16 Oct 2017 | 11.1 | 1.27 AU | 3 Apr 2018 | 16.6 | 1.32 AU | 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup | 32.4 | 2.09 AU | 2.95 AU | 30 Sep 2018 | 14.9 | 1.08 AU | 4 Oct 2018 | 14.9 | 2.03 AU | 46P/Wirtanen | 22.2 | 4.36 AU | 3.43 AU | 11 Dec 2018 | 5.6 | 1.06 AU | 12 Dec 2018 | 5.6 | 0.07 AU | 37P/Forbes | 17.9 | 2.64 AU | 1.99 AU | 3 May 2018 | 13.6 | 1.62 AU | 18 Aug 2018 | 15.2 | 0.98 AU | 48P/Johnson | 17.4 | 3.50 AU | 2.62 AU | 15 Aug 2018 | 12.6 | 2.01 AU | 18 Aug 2018 | 12.6 | 1.01 AU | 21P/Giacobini-Zinner | 18.8 | 3.74 AU | 3.01 AU | 15 Sep 2018 | 7.3 | 1.01 AU | 16 Sep 2018 | 7.3 | 0.31 AU | 60P/Tsuchinshan | 20.3 | 3.34 AU | 3.20 AU | 2 Dec 2018 | 14.0 | 1.65 AU | 1 Mar 2019 | 14.0 | 0.91 AU | 24P/Schaumasse | 14.6 | 1.66 AU | 1.39 AU | 6 Nov 2017 | 12.0 | 1.18 AU | 25 Apr 2018 | 22.1 | 1.45 AU | 78P/Gehrels | 19.7 | 4.70 AU | 3.72 AU | 8 Apr 2019 | 13.7 | 2.00 AU | 3 Sep 2018 | 14.6 | 1.65 AU | 123P/West-Hartley | 17.1 | 2.94 AU | 3.43 AU | 26 Jan 2019 | 13.4 | 2.16 AU | 4 Mar 2019 | 13.2 | 1.23 AU | 255P/Levy | 13.9 | 2.50 AU | 1.95 AU | 21 Aug 2017 | 9.4 | 0.85 AU | 4 Aug 2017 | 9.6 | 1.67 AU | 64P/Swift-Gehrels | 26.0 | 4.36 AU | 3.38 AU | 7 Nov 2018 | 9.5 | 1.39 AU | 25 Oct 2018 | 9.6 | 0.45 AU |
For each of the listed comets, the current position is plotted in the below all-sky chart:
Terminology:
delta: Distance between comet and earth in AU
radius: Distance between comet and sun in AU
magn: Magnitude (brightness) estimate
elong: Elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-comet)
AU: Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
Perihelion: On this date the comet (or other type of body) is closest to the sun
Orbital elements provided by MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Observations contributed by observers worldwide, via COBS (Comet Observation Database).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.
