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Recently discovered comets

The below table lists comets that have been discovered in the past 6 months.
For detailed information about a comet, click on its designation.

Comet(s) Today Perihelion Nearest approach
designation Hₒ magn delta radius date magn radius date magn delta
C/2026 J1 (PANSTARRS)14.119.82.13 AU2.54 AU30 Jun 202619.72.52 AU6 Jul 202619.62.02 AU
C/2026 H3 (Bok)8.922.06.94 AU7.73 AU22 May 202622.07.73 AU2 Jun 202622.06.94 AU
C/2026 H2 (Leonard)10.119.63.74 AU4.59 AU17 Mar 202619.94.55 AU21 May 202619.53.70 AU
C/2026 H1 (PANSTARRS)9.020.75.81 AU6.08 AU13 Jun 202620.76.08 AU31 Mar 202620.45.15 AU
A/2026 E112.016.52.60 AU2.91 AU13 May 202616.12.90 AU15 Apr 202615.72.04 AU
P/2026 C2 (PANSTARRS)14.920.52.23 AU2.45 AU21 Jul 202621.02.44 AU11 Mar 202620.01.59 AU
C/2026 C1 (Tsuchinshan)4.418.38.82 AU9.14 AU6 Nov 20284.61.15 AU11 Nov 20284.60.99 AU
C/2026 B3 (PANSTARRS)7.719.46.28 AU6.28 AU5 May 202718.85.82 AU4 Mar 202718.54.90 AU
C/2026 B2 (Sun-Gao)9.717.23.08 AU2.41 AU10 Jan 202613.71.28 AU31 Jan 202613.72.04 AU
P/2026 B1 (PANSTARRS)17.323.62.84 AU2.55 AU14 Aug 202623.92.51 AU2 Feb 202623.01.79 AU
C/2026 A3 (PANSTARRS)9.021.06.77 AU6.07 AU27 Sep 202719.14.82 AU23 Nov 202718.83.93 AU
C/2026 A2 (Bok)10.718.03.02 AU3.06 AU22 Dec 202614.91.94 AU17 Nov 202614.71.58 AU
C/2026 A1 (MAPS)15.615.42.47 AU1.69 AU4 Apr 2026-0.80.05 AU6 Apr 20263.00.96 AU
C/2025 Y3 (PANSTARRS)17.023.72.91 AU2.74 AU13 Jan 202621.62.23 AU17 Dec 202521.41.47 AU
P/2025 Y2 (PANSTARRS)13.320.52.73 AU3.16 AU7 Dec 202520.63.05 AU23 Mar 202619.82.09 AU
C/2025 Y1 (ATLAS)6.316.74.99 AU5.48 AU14 Oct 202712.12.60 AU22 Jun 202711.81.95 AU
C/2025 X1 (PANSTARRS)10.220.65.15 AU4.87 AU11 Dec 202620.44.67 AU6 Apr 202720.03.98 AU

For possible comets still needing confirmation, see http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/NEO/pccp_tabular.html



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
    Hₒ:         Absolute magnitude (magnitude from a distance of 1 AU)

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.

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