BAA Comet Section : Comets discovered in 2024
Updated 2024 April 18
2024 A1 (ATLAS)
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered a 19th magnitude comet
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Rio Hurtado, Chile on January 3.21. It was posted on the PCCP as A111kXD.
[MPEC 2024-B78, CBET 5333, 2024 January 21]. The comet is at perihelion at 3.9
au in 2025 June and is in a near perpendicular orbit.
2024 A2 (ATLAS)
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered an 18th magnitude object
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Rio Hurtado, Chile on January 15.34. It was posted on the PCCP as A112t8b.
Follow up observations showed it to be a comet.
[MPEC 2024-C180, CBET 5349, 2024 February 15]. The comet is at perihelion at 1.9
au in 2024 April and has a period of around 200 years.
2024 B1 (Lemmon)
An object of 21st magnitude was discovered on January 16.17 in images taken with
the 1.5-m reflector of the Mt Lemmon Survey. It was placed on the PCCP as CA698P2. PanSTARRS reported cometary activity
in pre-discovery images taken on 2023 December 15.39, with further pre-discovery images on 2023 October 13, 19, 23, November 20,
December 5, 9, 24 and 2024 January 3.
[MPEC 2024-C86, CBET 5344, 2024 February 8]. The comet is at perihelion at 1.6 au in 2024 September.
2024 B2 (Lemmon)
An object of 21st magnitude was discovered on January 31.26 in images taken with
the 1.5-m reflector of the Mt Lemmon Survey. It was placed on the PCCP as CA7X5V2. PanSTARRS reported cometary activity
in images taken on February 3, and their were pre-discovery images on 2023 May 14 (CFHT), December 29, 30, 31, 2024 January
23, 27 (PanSTARRS). The MPEC had to be re-issued as it originally gave no observations.
[MPEC 2024-C87, CBET 5345, 2024 February 8]. The comet is at perihelion at 4.1 au in 2023 October.
2024 C1 (PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
February 9.40. It was placed on the PCCP as P21RrwI. There were prediscovery images from PanSTARRS
on 2023 December 12, 2024 January 20, 21 and February 4. The comet was discovered after the one designated C2
[MPEC 2024-C177 CBET 5348, 2024 February 15] The comet is at perihelion at 4.4 au in 2024 August and has a
period of around 35 years.
2024 C2 (PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
February 1.42. It was placed on the PCCP as P21R3HJ. There were prediscovery images from PanSTARRS
on 2023 December 25, 2024 January 5, 6, 20, 21, 22 and 23. The comet was discovered before the one designated C1
[MPEC 2024-C178 CBET 5350, 2024 February 15] The comet is at perihelion at 9.0 au in 2025 March and has a
period of around 65 years.
2024 C3 (PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
February 9.47. It was placed on the PCCP as P21RtvR. There were prediscovery images from PanSTARRS
on 2023 March 18, 25 and December 17.
[MPEC 2024-D97 CBET 5353, 2024 February 21] The comet is at perihelion at 6.7 au in 2023 November and has a
period of around 40 years.
2024 C4 (ATLAS)
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered a 17th magnitude object
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Sutherland, South Africa on February 14.08 It was initially reported as asteroidal,
but quickly found to be a comet in follow up observations. It was posted on the PCCP as A1140BW.
[MPEC 2024-D98, CBET 5354, 2024 February 21]. The comet was at perihelion at 1.5
au in 2024 January.
Michael Mattiazzo estimated it at 14th magnitude on February 16.
2024 C5 (P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS)
Erwin Schwab recovered comet 2012 WA34 at 20th magnitude in images taken with the 1.0-m reflector at
the ESA Optical Ground Station at Tenerife on February 12.97. Sam Deen then found images taken on 2023 September 18 and 19
taken with the 4.0-m DECam at Cerro Tololo.
[MPEC 2024-D103, CBET 5356, 2024 February 22]. The comet was at perihelion at 3.1 au in 2023 July and has a period of 10.1 years.
2024 D1 (A/Lemmon)
An object of 22nd magnitude was discovered on February 16.31 in images taken with
the 1.5-m reflector of the Mt Lemmon Survey. It was placed on the PCCP as CA8FEE2. PanSTARRS reported pre-discovery images
taken on 2023 December 27, 28, 2024 January 2, 6 and 23. No cometary activity has been detected to date.
[MPEC 2024-E161, 2024 March 13]. The object is at perihelion at 6.7 au in 2027 December and is in a retrograde near parabolic orbit.
Currently over 10 au from the Sun, it may show activity as it nears perihelion.
2024 E1 (Wierzchos)
Kaspar Wierzchos discovered a comet of around 20th magnitude in images taken with
the 1.5-m reflector of the Mt Lemmon Survey on March 3.45. Following posting on the PCCP as CA9MP42 the comet was found in images taken by
the ZTF on February 15 and 29. [MPEC 2024-E102, CBET 5364, 2024 March 6/7]. The comet is at perihelion at 0.6 au in 2026 January. Unfortunately
this timing is not the best. The comet may become a telescopic or faint binocular object for visual observers in the northern hemisphere in the autumn
of 2025 as it heads south towards perihelion. At perihelion it could be visible in the SOHO C3 field if the spacecraft is still operational.
Post perihelion it returns to northern skies, when it might be a binocular object in the evening sky, though fading rapidly.
2024 E2 (Bok)
A 23rd magnitude object discovered at Kitt Peak with the 2.25 m 'Bok' reflector and placed on the PCCP as C0QQC45 was shown to have cometary features by astrometrists.
[MPEC 2024-F91, CBET 5377, 5378, 2024 March 27/28]. It initially caused
great excitement due to an incorrect linkage to an isolated tracklet, which suggested that it might have perihelion at 0.5 au.
The comet was at perihelion at 7.7 au in 2023 July according to the CBET
parabolic orbit. The MPEC gives a strongly hyperbolic orbit, for which there
seems little justification as it is based on only a 15 day arc.
2024 F1 (P/PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 1 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
March 18.41. It was placed on the PCCP as P11SDCC.
[MPEC 2024-G102, CBET 5379, 2024 April 9] The comet was at perihelion at 1.9 au in 2023 October and has a
period of 6.4 years. It is a Jupiter family comet and passed 0.6 au from the
planet in 2021 February.
2024 F2 (PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 1 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
March 21.61. It was placed on the PCCP as P11SLVZ.
[MPEC 2024-G103, CBET 5380, 2024 April 9] The comet is at perihelion at 4.0 au in 2024 August and has a
period of 31 years. It is a Jupiter family comet.
2024 G1 (Wierzchos)
Kacper Wierzchos discovered a comet of around 20th magnitude in images taken with
the 2.25-m "Bok" reflector at Kitt Peak on April 7.48. It was posted on the PCCP as C0RKW75.
[MPEC 2024-H10, CBET 5381, 2024 April 17]. The comet is at perihelion at 3.9 au in 2024 October.
2024 G2 (ATLAS)
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered a 19th magnitude object
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Rio Hurtado, Chile on April 3.33 It was posted on the PCCP as A115K6D.
Follow up observations by Sam Deen and others showed it to be a comet.
[MPEC 2024-H20, CBET 5383, 2024 April 17]. The comet is at perihelion at 5.3
au in 2025 June.
2024 G3 (ATLAS)
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered a 19th magnitude object
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Rio Hurtado, Chile on April 5.26 It was posted on the PCCP as A115IQO.
Follow up observations showed it to be a comet.
[MPEC 2024-H22, CBET 5384, 2024 April 18]. The comet is at perihelion at 0.1 au in 2025 January. It is a southern
hemisphere object for the entire apparition and is mostly at a poor elongation when within visual range.
If it survives perihelion, there is a window from late January to mid February when it might be a visual object.
A/2024 GT4 [ATLAS]
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered a 20th magnitude object
in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Sutherland, South frica, on April 4.86. It was posted on the PCCP as A115JT0.
Observations back to 2010 were soon found. [MPEC 2024-G179, 2024 April 13]. The Trans Neptunian Object is at perihelion at 15.4
au in 2029 June and has a period of 190 years.
When observing a comet please try to forget how bright you think the comet
should be, what it was when you last viewed it, what other observers think
it is or what the ephemeris says it should be.
The equations for the light curves of comets that are currently visible
use only the raw observations and should give a reasonable prediction for
the current brightness. If the comet has not yet been observed or has
gone from view a correction for aperture is included, so that telescopic
observers should expect the comet to be fainter than given by the equation.
The correction is about 0.033 per centimetre. Values for the r parameter
given in square brackets [ ] are assumed. The form of the light curve is
either the standard m = H0 + 5 log d + K0 log r or the linear brightening
m = H0 + 5 log d + L0 abs(t - T + D0) where T is the date of perihelion,
t the present and D0 an offset, if L0 is +ve the comet brightens towards
perihelion and if D0 is +ve the comet is brightest prior to perihelion.
Observations of comets in 2024 are given in ICQ format.
Full details of recently discovered objects will not appear until they are
available on the CBAT web pages. The actual accuracy of preliminary orbits is often
(nearly always) much worse than the published
accuracy implies. In part this is because
each orbital solution is treated as a mathematical construct and does not take account of observational
error. JPL does publish the errors, whereas the MPECs do not.
Ephemerides of current comets are available on the CBAT
ephemeris page and positions of newly discovered comets are on the
NEO confirmation page.
A list of comets
discovered by selected search programs.
The Northumberland refractor
is the telescope that was used in the search for Neptune.
It now has a 0.30-m f20 doublet lens which gives a stellar limiting magnitude of around
15 at the zenith on good nights.
The Thorrowgood refractor was
built in 1864 and has a 0.20-m f14 doublet lens it is currently out of action
whilst snagging of the new dome is carried out.
Published by Jonathan Shanklin. Jon Shanklin - jds@ast.cam.ac.uk