David's Astronomy Pages (Solar System)
Comets

Comet Pages by year
Bullet  | 20032004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
Bullet  | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
Bullet  | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
   
Notable Comets
Bullet Comets
- Hyakutake
- Hale Bopp
- C/2000 WM1
- C/2000 SV74
- C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) (2004)
- Comet 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3-C (2006)
  - Comet 17P/Holmes (2007)
  - Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (2022)
   
Full List
Bullet Comets - Full List (list of comets with observations / images)
   
  See also Image Database - Comets

 


Comets

I've seen 2 naked eye comets - Hyakutake in 1997 and Hale Bopp in 1997/8

Hyakutake
Hale Bopp

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Comet - Hyakutake

"as dusk deepened and clouds receded I was able to capture my first ever view of a comet" 
(extract from my observing notebook 1996-Apr-01)

Image
Hyakutake
Photo, 1996-Apr-05
More images of Hyakutake

Hyakutake was discovered in early morning of 1996-Jan-31 by Yuji Hyakutake. It passed earth at 18 million miles distance on 1996-Mar-27. Speeding across the celestrial sky at up to 16 deg/day it passed through Bootes Mar-21 to 24, past Polaris Mar-25/26, between Camelopardalis and Cassiopeia Mar-27 to 30 and then into Perseus where it began to slow Mar-31 to Apr-16 and then into Aries Apr-17 to Apr-31.

I followed its path between 1996-Apr-01 and 1996-Apr-09.

Celestrial positions of Comet Hyakutake, 
recorded 1996-Apr-01 to 1996-Apr-09

Constellation of Perseus
Notice the apparent slowing down of the comet between the two 4 day periods.
Image Image Image
Hyatukake
Drawing, 
1996-Apr-01, 20:00 UT
Hyatukake
Drawing, 
1996-Apr-05, 20:15 UT
Hyatukake
Drawing, 
1996-Apr-09, 21:15 UT

I took some photos of Hyakutake by mounting my camera on top of my LX200 telescope and taking exposures of around 5 minutes duration.

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Comet Hale Bopp

Hale Bopp was the famous comet of 1997. Most people will remembering hearing about it, many will remember seeing it. 

Comet Hale Bopp
1997-Mar-27
Photos taken with Pentax Camera mounted on LX200, 400 ASA Film
(More of my images of Hale Bopp)
Image Image
50mm lens, Exposure 5 mins 300mm lens, Exposure 5 mins

My first sight of Hale Bopp was in the year previous on 1996-Nov-07 when it lay close to the globular cluster M14 in the constellation of Ophichus in evening sky. At the time it was still fairly dim and without any discernable tail. 

In 1997-Feb I observed it in the morning in the east (Cygnus).  By March it had gone round the Sun and lay in the evening sky in the NNW, by which time it was a clear naked eye object with a well developed tail. 

I made some observations of the comet on the evening of 1997-Mar-27 through my LX200 telescope, at which time the comet lay between the constellations of Cassiopeia and Andromeda. I also took some photos using Camera mounted onto of the LX200. These pictures came out pretty well. (see above and more images).  The main dust tail (bright white-yellow white) was starting to become distinctly curved by this stage. A second tail (plasma tail) was also observable through the LX200 and from photos was blue in colour. 

I continued making occasional visual observations of Hale Bopp through 1997-Apr and 1997-May until it disappeared from UK skies.

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Comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR)


C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) was imaged with a ST-7e camera though an 8" LX200 on 2001-11-01.  (Images and more details at C/2000 WM1 Images, 2001-11-01)

Stacked images, 3 x 3 min exposures

The following animated sequence of images was recorded on 2001-11-26:

C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR)
Image
2001-11-26, 22:26 to 22:39h UT, 
Animation produced from 10 x 60s CCD images taken over a 13 minute period 

 

Better CCD  images of C/2000 WM1 were recorded 2001-11-26 (  (Images and more details at C/2000 WM1 Images, 2001-11-26)

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Comet C/2000 SV74 (Linear)

Images of C/2000 SV74 were recorded on 2001-12-14

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Comet - C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)

C/2004 Q2 (Macholz) was the bright comet of 2004/2005 Winter

Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) motion
(motion measured at 3.44 arc sec/hour)
Image
CCD Image Animation - aligned on comet
16 frames, 2 min exposure,  C Filter
2004-12-18 21:28 h to 23:52h UT (#80045-110)
(Animation with 66 frames was also created)
 
Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) 
Image
CCD Colour Composite Image
Blue (av 2 x 90s B Filter, 100%), Green (30s V Filter,115%), 
Red (30s R Filter, 100%) 
2005-01-05 23:43 h UT (#82121-24)

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Comet 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3

Comet 73/P Schwassmann-Wachmann 3-B 

Animated CCD frame sequence showing motion of 
Fragment B over a 26 minute period hrough Star Field on 
border between Hercules & Lyra.
Image
  CCD Image (75% size)
8 frames, 30s exposures, 1x1 binning, C Filter
Linear Scale
2006-05-09 00:55h UT (#123203-37) 

 

 

Fragment B Fragment C
Fragment B - 2005-05-08 Fragment C - 2005-05-08
Image Image 

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 Comets - Full List

  Comet   Observations
Bullet 2P/Encke   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet 4P/Faye   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 7P/Pons-Winnecke   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 9P/Tempel   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
Bullet 10P/Tempel   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 12P/Pons-Brooks   2024 - 2023
Bullet 13P/Olbers   2024
Bullet 15P/Finlay   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 17P/Holmes   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet 19P/Borrelly   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018
Bullet 22P/Kopff   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015
Bullet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 30P/Reinmuth   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010
Bullet 32P/Comas Sola   2024 - 2023
Bullet 37P/Forbes   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018
Bullet 38P/Stephan-Oterma   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova   2024 - 2023
Bullet 46P/Wirtanen   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet 61P/Shajn-Schaldach   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 62P/Tsuchinshan   2024 - 2023
Bullet 63P/Wild   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet 65P/Gunn   2024
Bullet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 68P/Klemola   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet 70P/Kojima   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 80P/Peters-Hartley (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 81/P Wild   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010
Bullet ???   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
Bullet 88P/Howell   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 100P/Hartley (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 102P/Shoemaker (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet 103P/Hartley   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010
Bullet 104P/Kowal   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 107P/Wilson-Harrington   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet 108P/Ciffreo   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet 110P/Hartley   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet 114P/Wiseman-Skiff   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 119P/Parker-Hartley   2024 - 2023
Bullet 126P/IRAS   2024 - 2023
Bullet 132P/Helin-Roman-Alu   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 144P/Kushida    2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 -2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010
Bullet 154P/Brewington   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet 155P/Shoemaker   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 156P/Russell-LINEAR   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 168P/Hergenrother   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
Bullet 184P/Lovas (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 237P/LINEAR   2024 - 2023
Bullet 207P/NEAT   2024
Bullet 260/P McNaught   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
Bullet 273P/Pons-Gambart   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet 277P/LINEAR   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet 289P/Blanpain   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet 398P/Boattini   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
       
Bullet P/2010 H2 (Vales) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet P/2014 L2 (NEOWISE)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
       
Bullet C/1997 T1 (Utsunomiya) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet P/2023 M4 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
       
Bullet C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010
Bullet C/2009 P1 (Garradd)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011
       
Bullet C/2010 S1 (LINEAR)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
Bullet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2011 J2 LINEAR   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet C/2012 F6 (Lemmon)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2012 J1 (Catalina)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
Bullet C/2012 K5 (LINEAR)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012
Bullet C/2012 L2 (LINEAR)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2012 S1 (ISON)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2013 US10 (Catalina)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
Bullet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013
Bullet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015
Bullet C/2014 A4 (SONEAR)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015
Bullet C/2014 E2 (Jacques)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015
Bullet C/2014 Q3 (Borisov)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015 - 2014
Bullet C/2014 W2 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016
       
Bullet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017
Bullet C/2015 F5 (SWAN-Xingming)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017 - 2016 - 2015
Bullet C/2015 O1 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet C/2015 V2 (Johnson)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017
Bullet C/2016 R2 (PANSTARRS) 2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017
Bullet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet C/2017 T1 (Heinze)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019 - 2018 - 2017
Bullet C/2017 T2 (PanStarrs)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
       
Bullet C/2018 N2 (ASASSN)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet C/2018 W2 (Africano)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
       
Bullet C/2019 K7 (Smith)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2019 L3 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) (Interstellar)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020 - 2019
Bullet C/2019 T4 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2019 U5 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet C/2019 U6 (Lemmon) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
       
Bullet C/2020 A2 (Iwamoto)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2020 M3 (Atlas)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2020 Q1 (Borisov) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021 - 2020
Bullet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2020 S4 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2020 T2 (Palomar)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet C/2020 V2 (ZTF)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
       
Bullet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)   2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021
Bullet C/2021 F1 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS)   2024
Bullet C/2021 O3 (PANSTARRS) (attempt)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS)   2024
Bullet C/2021 T4 (Lemmon)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2021 Y1 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet C/2021 X1 (Maury-Attard)   2024 - 2023
         
Bullet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2022 E2 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)   2024 - 2023 - 2022
Bullet C/2022 L2 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2022 U2 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2022 W3 (Leonard)   2024 - 2023
       
Bullet C/2023 E1 (ATLAS)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2023 H2 (Lemmon)   2024 - 2023
Bullet C/2023 S2 (ATLAS) (attempt)   2024 - 2023
       
       

Insert Table Rows from below

 

 

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