Director: Nick James
Apr 28 Peter Berrett reports a non-group comet in archival C2 images Apr 28 Hanjie Tan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Apr 29 Peter Berrett reports a Meyer group comet in archival C2 images Apr 29 Hanjie Tan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images Apr 30 Cometary activity reported in 2020 WJ5 (P/Lemmon) May 01 Peter Berrett reports a non-group comet in archival C2 images May 02 Worachate Boonplod reports a Meyer group comet in real time C2 images May 02 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 02 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 03 Rafal Biros reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 03 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 04 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 04 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 06 Peiyuan Sun reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 08 Peter Berrett reports a Meyer group comet in archival C2 images May 08 Hanjie Tan reports a Kracht group comet in archival C2 images May 10 Discovery of 2022 H1 (PanSTARRS) reported May 10 Worachate Boonplod reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 11 Discovery of 2022 J1 (Maury-Attard) reported May 12 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 12 Hanjie Tan reports two Kreutz group comets in real time C2 images May 13 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 14 Hanjie Tan reports a non-group comet in archival C2 images May 15 Zhijian Xu reports a non-group comet in real time C2 images May 16 Hanjie Tan reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 17 Hanjie Tan reports a Marsden group comet in archival C2 images May 17 Worachate Boonplod reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 18 Worachate Boonplod reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 21 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 21 Zhijian Xu reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 22 Hanjie Tan, Zhijian Xu and Zesheng Yang report a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 23 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C3 images May 24 Discovery of 2022 J2 (A/Bok) reported May 26 Zesheng Yang reports a Kreutz group comet in real time C2 images May 26 Update
If there have been no recent updates try The German comet group page or Seiichi Yoshida's page for information or the Liga Iberoamericana de Astronomia for observations.
Comet Magnitude Trend Observable When visible Last visual observation 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 8 fade 35 N to 25 S early evening 2022 May 2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) 9.5 bright 55 N to 65 S best morning 2022 May 2019 L3 (ATLAS) 10.5 fade 55 N to 55 S early evening 2022 May 2021 F1 (Lemmon-PanSTARRS) 11 fade Conjunction 2022 March 2021 E3 (ZTF) 11.5 bright 15 N to 90 S morning 2022 April 2019 T4 (ATLAS) 11.5 steady 50 N to 80 S evening 2022 May 2021 P4 (ATLAS) 12 bright 60 N to 50 N early evening 2022 May 22P/Kopff 12 ? steady 20 N to 65 S morning Not yet observed 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 13 ? varies Poor elongation 2022 April 2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) 13 fade 55 N to 40 N best evening 2022 May 19P/Borrelly 13 fade 60 N to 0 S evening 2022 May 2020 V2 (ZTF) 13.5 bright 60 N to 0 S all night 2022 April 116P/Wild 13.5 steady 60 N to 50 S evening 2022 April 2021 A1 (Leonard) 13.5 fade 20 N to 90 S morning 2022 January 2019 U5 (PanSTARRS) 14 bright 60 N to 15 S all night 2022 April 9P/Tempel 14 steady 30 N to 90 S morning Not yet observed 2020 K1 (PanSTARRS) 14.5 bright 60 N to 40 S best morning 2022 AprilDetails are usually fully updated at the beginning of each month, but some minor updates may be made more frequently, particularly for brighter comets. The last (partial) update was on May 26. The magnitude is a rough value for the mean magnitude reported; some observers will see the comet brighter than this, whilst others will see it fainter. The observable region is an approximate indication of the latitude at which the comet may be seen. Under good conditions comets may be visible outside this range. The period when visible is for the UK if the comet is visible from the UK, otherwise for 40 S or the Equator as appropriate. The last visual observation is as received by the Section, details are often updated on the basis of observations published elsewhere. Beginners will often find comets fainter than about 7th magnitude difficult to locate - see below for information on positions and finder charts.
Light curves of comets that may become brighter than 10th magnitude (aperture corrected for potential naked eye comets) [click on thumbnail to get the full scale image, updated on 2022 March 4]. The dotted lines represent 99% confidence limits. 2017 K2.
Comet magnitude parameters [ updated 2022 May 1].
Planning aids and information for forthcoming comets, valid out to about 2025.
The MPC also has a list of the last observation for all comets. Electronic observers should try and observe any comets that have not recently been observed according to the CBAT but which are expected to be within range of their equipment. Negative observations are also useful. In addition, the MPC has orbital elements for unusual asteroids, many of which have cometary orbits.
Download Richard Fleet's GraphDark software for graphically displaying comet (and other object) visibility. Latest version is 2.05, 2007 May.
Download William Schwittek's CometWin software for generating comet ephemerides and visibility diagrams. [Updated 2002 March 5]
Download Solex, N-body solar system dynamics software.
Visual and visual equivalent magnitude observations should be sent to me at <jds [at] ast.cam.ac.uk> in simple text format. Visual observers can use the BAA visual report form to log observations. To avoid the use of multiple formats the ICQ format , which uses special keys to code observation particulars, is now standardised as the one to use for submission and archiving of observations. The ICQ have not updated their observation keys since 2010, so these additional keys are suggested for use when submitting observations to the BAA (updated 2020 October 3). Crni Vhr Observatory has launched the Comet Observation Database which allows entry of observations in ICQ format, and plots of light curves. Visual observations entered using this system should be emailed to me at the end of the month. Observations are usually analysed and sent to TA as soon as possible after the end of the month with a TA deadline of the 2nd; any late observations will be used in subsequent analyses. Observations will continue to be published by Guy Hurst in The Astronomer magazine in TA format. There is also a visual drawing form. The German comet group also has a computer program that will correctly format observations for the ICQ [2009 December].
Images should be sent to Denis Buczynski.
Regular contributors include James Abbott, Jose Aguiar, Alexander Amorim, Nicolas Biver, Denis Buczynski, Paul Camilleri, Peter Carson, Matyas Csukas, Roger Dymock, John Fletcher, Marco Goiato, Juan Gonzalez, Bjorn Granslo, Werner Hasubick, Kevin Hills, Nick James, Heinz Kerner, Carlos Labordena, Rolando Ligustri, Michael Mattiazzo, Maik Mayer, Antonio Milani, Martin Mobberley, Giuseppe Pappa, Jose Navarro Pina, Gabriel Oksa, Mieczyslaw Paradowski, Nirmal Paul, Stuart Rae, Walter Robledo, Tony Scarmato, Willian Souza, David Strange, Johan Warrell, Chris Wyatt and Seiichi Yoshida, several of whom contribute observations from their colleagues. Thanks are due to all of them.
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Many thanks to those that regularly access this page for your interest. If you have any comments, suggestions for improvement or find any problems, please email the visual co-ordinator, Jon Shanklin, at j.shanklin @ bas.ac.uk. If you need to phone me, my home number is +44 (0)1223 571250 or my BAS number is +44 (0)1223 221482. Snail mail will reach me at the British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, CAMBRIDGE CB3 0ET, England. For information about my work with BAS see my web page at BAS.