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THE PREDICTABLE
The Comets
The Comets Index and Comets Story Page Go Down Go Up
Are Comets Predictable? Yes, with one exception.
It has often and long been said that the only thing predictable about comets is their unpredictability. For example, when Comet Kohoutec was discovered some fifty years ago, it was announced that it could be the comet of the century, and was predicted to have a magnitude of -10, which is bright enough to be seen even in the daytime, being well past the Limit of Observable Daytime Object which is at -4 mag.
Well, did that happen? Sadly, no, proving instead to be the most advertised failure of the century. Further, most people now cringe a little with the mention of the name of Comet Kohoutec.
There are currently over 5250 known comets, a number that is steadily increasing as more are discovered. Once a comet has been discovered, then its orbital path can be plotted as well as its expected return date determined. It is the study of astronomy and astrophysics which is the key to predicting the return of comets.
Roughly one comet per year is visible to the naked eye, though many of those are faint and unspectacular. Particularly bright examples are called Great Comets. Comets have been visited by unmanned probes such as the European Space Agency′s Rosetta, which became the first ever to land a robotic spacecraft on a comet, and NASA′s Deep Impact, which blasted a crater on Comet Tempel 1 to study its interior.
The Mountain, Nonpareils Predictable, Naked Eye Events
(m5pr-nakedeye) The Naked Eye Celestial Objects Photo Credit:
The Comet Gallery Index 1 Go Down Go Up
Comet by Year
2061
1P/Halleys, LPH: February 1986, NPH: 28 July 2061
A short period comet with an orbital period of about 76 years.
2025
3I/ATLAS, DD: 12 Dec 2025, XNE, mag 11.0, NPH: NPC
An interstellar comet with an unbound, hyperbolic trajectory past the Sun.
C/2025 R2 (SWAN), DD: 11 September 2025, XNE, mag 12.0,
LPH: 12 Sept 2025, NPH: 2,841 CE ± 3 years
A long period comet with an orbital period of about 816 ± 3 years.
2024
C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), DD: 03 March 2024, XNE, mag 12.0
NPH: 20 January 2026
C/2021 S3 PanSTARRS, DD: 26 July 2021, XNE,
LPH: 21 April 2022, NPH: unknown
A hyperpolic Oort Cloud Comet with a short observation arc of 7 days.
C/2023-A3, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, mag 6.1
LPH: 27 Sept 2024,
13P/Olbers, mag 7, XNE, periodic comet with Orbital Period: 69 years.
DD: 06 March 1815, LPH: 30 June 2024, NPH: 20 March 2094
12P/Pons-Brooks, mag 5
NPH: 21 April 2024. LPH: 22 May 1954.
144P/Kushida, mag 10, XNE
LPH: 25 January 2024
2023
62P/Tsuchinshan, mag 8, XNE
LPH: 25 December 2023, NPH: 2094
2020
C-2020-F3 NEOWISE Comet
2011
Great Comet Lovejoy, mag -4
LPH: 16 December 2011; NPH: 2633 CE.
2007
Great Comet McNaught, mag -5.5 Daylight
LPH: 12 January 2007. NPH: Non Period Comet
1996
Great Comet Hyakutake, mag 0.0
LPH: 01 May 1996; NPH: Unknown;
1995
Hale-Bopp Comet
1994
Comet 141P/Machholz, mag 17.3, XNE
DD: 13 August 1994, LPH: 15 Dec 2020, NPH: 23 April 2026,
A Jupiter family comet with an orbital period of 5.3 years
1993
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9,
orbiting and then colliding with Jupiter in July 1994
1986
1P-Halley, Halley′s Comet, mag 2.1,
LPH: 1910 CE, NPH: 28 July 2061
1981
88P-Howell, ~mag 9.0
DD: 29 August 1981, LPH: 26 Sept 2020, NPH: 03 Mar 2026
1976
Great Comet West, mag -3
LPH: 25 February 1976. NPH: Unknown
1970
Great Comet Bennett, mag 0
LPH: 20 March 1970. NPH: 3600 CE.
1965
Great Comet Ikeya-Seki, mag -10
LPH: 21 October 1965. NPH: 2760 CE
1962
Great Comet Seki-Lines, mag -2.5
LPH: 1 April 1962; NPH:NPC;
1957
Great Comet Arend-Roland, mag -1
LPH: 08 April 1957; NPH: NPC;
Great Comet Mrkos, mag 1
LPH: 01 August 1957; NPH: NPC;
1927
Great Comet Skjellerup-Maristany
1910
Great Halley′s Comet.
DD: 25 Dec 1910, mag 0, LPH: 1066 CE, 837 CE, 87 BCE, 12 BCE
1858
C-1858 L1 (Great Donati), NEV
LPH: 30 Sept 1858. NPH: 3600 CE.
1786
2P-Encke, XNE mag
DD: 17 Jan. 1786, LPH: 22 Oct. 2023. NPH: 10 Feb. 2027
1  
ABBREVIATIONS: Discovery Date: DD; Last Perihelion = LPH; Next Perihelion = NPH;
Comet Period: Non-Periodic Comet = NPC; Long-Periodic = LPC; Short Periodic = SPC
Peak Magnitude = mag; (Approximate Magnitude = ~mag);
Common Era = CE; Before Common Era = BCE.
VISIBLE:  Naked Eye Visible (NEV): Magnitudes of 6.5 or less (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -2, -3, -4 & etc.)
NOT Naked Eye Visible (XNE): Magnitudes of 7, 8, 9 or more (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, etc.)
NOTE: Polaris is magnitude 2.0, Mars is magnitude 1.28, Sirius is magnitude -1.4.
Saturn and Jupiter are magnitude -2.9, Venus is a magnitude -4.4,
Full moon is magnitude -12.5, The Sun is magnitude -26.7
Magnitudes vary throughout year and change with the location of each objects.
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This Page Last Updated: 30 November 2025

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