BAA Comet Section : Comets discovered in 2026
Updated 2026 April 1
2026 A1 (MAPS)
The MAPS team (Alain Maury, Georges Attard, Daniel Parrott and Florian Signoret)
discovered an 18th magnitude comet with their Celestron 0.28-m f/2.2 Schmidt
astrograph at San Pedro de Atacama on January 13.15. They will be eligible for
the Edward Wilson award. Sam Deen quickly found pre-discovery observations back
to December 18, but the MPC refuse to use these in case they degrade their
orbit. The CBAT was more sensible and used the observations. [MPEC 2026-B129,
CBET 5658, 2026 January 20]. The comet is a member of the Kreutz group and
reaches perihelion on April 4. It is intrinsically faint and the MPC magnitude
parameters suggest that it might
only reach 3rd magnitude at that point and be visible in the solar coronagraphs.
However using a faster rate of brightening, which seems appropriate for Kreutz
group comets, it could become as bright as Venus though only at 3 degrees
elongation. Equatorially placed observers stand the best chance of seeing it
post perihelion.
Qicheng Zhang noted on comets-ml on March 17 that HST observations made on February 6/7 indicate a nucleus diameter of about 0.4 km,
which is close to the boundary between surviving perihelion and disintegrating due to rotational spin-up. Extrapolations of the
light curve to perihelion gives physically implausible magnitudes and several people make suggestions as to what may happen.
Nicholas Lefaudeaux has made some simulations of likely tail development. He
suggests that the intense solar radiation completely sublimates all dust grains hence substantially reducing the coma size.
David Seargent suggests that it will fade because at perihelion the comet is only illuminated by a small fraction of the solar
disc. Qicheng Zhang suggests that apparent fading of some past Kreutz comets at perihelion may be an instrumental artifact.
What is certain is that the comet will be moving so fast at perihelion (around
500 km/s) that it will lose its tail and grow a new one.
2026 A2 (Bok)
An object was discovered at Kitt Peak with the Bok 2.25 m reflector on January 15.1 (according to the PCCP), or January 15.54 according to the published astrometry.
This had a cometary orbit and was placed on the PCCP as C19RNPS. Cometary activity was reported in astrometry made from February 2.
[MPEC 2026-F122, CBET 5672, 2026 March 21] The comet is at perihelion at 1.9 au in 2026 December.
2026 A3 (PANSTARRS)
Peter Veres of the MPC identified an object in the "isolated tracklet file" on multiple nights that had a cometary orbit.
He placed it on the PCCP as P12kfD7 and asked PanSTARRS to look at the images. Richard Weyrk then reported that it did show a coma.
[MPEC 2026-F279, CBET 5677, 2026 March 31] The comet is at perihelion at 4.8 au in 2027 September. It will pass 0.8 au from Jupiter
in 2026 June.
2026 AH19 (P/PANSTARRS)
Kacper Wierzchos discovered a 21st magnitude comet at Kitt Peak with the Bok 2.25m reflector on January 15.47. This was reported to the MPC
and briefly (probably only for some hours) posted on the PCCP as C19QJN5. R. Weryk quickly linked this to an object discovered by
PanSTARRS and then found further pre-discovery observations, including some by Wierzchos on January 13.45, which the MPC credit as the discovery
observations. He then identified it as the return of 2017 B4 and informed the MPC and the CBAT. However it was then forgotten by the MPC, who inadvertently
designated the object as 2026 AH19 in February on MPEC 2026-D36. The MPC finally remembered it in late March. [MPEC 2026-F198, CBET 5676, 2026 March 25/27]
It had passed 0.64 au from Jupiter in 2020 August. It was at perihelion in 2025 December at 2.8 au and now has a period of 9.1 years.
2026 B1 (P/PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 21st magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
January 17.39. It was placed on the PCCP as P22kwkz. Once a preliminary orbit was available on the PCCP, PanSTARRS
were able to find pre-discovery images back to 2013 April 15. Sam Deen was then able to find Sloan Digital Sky Survey
images from 2006 January 6 and 7. [MPEC 2026-B202, CBET 5659, 2026 January 28/29]
The comet is at perihelion at 2.5 au in 2026 August and has a period of 7.0 years. The comet had made relatively distant
passes of Jupiter in 2022 March and 2025 March which increased the period from 6.7 to 7.0 years. It will pass at 0.17 au
in 2057 December, which will dramatically change the orbit, with perihelion distance increasing to 4.5 au. Its previous
close approach to Jupiter was in 1915 November. The comet was subsequently
designated for the returns found in archive PanSTARRS imagery
from 2013 April 15.49 (2013 G10) to May 3 and 2018 December 14.56 (2018 X4) to 2020 June 23. [MPEC 2026-F280, CBET 5678, 2026 March 31/32].
The CBET says there are no close encounters with major planets, however the JPL Small-Body Database confirms that there was
a 0.2 au approach to Jupiter in 1915 November, the more distant one in 2022 March and the future one to 0.17 au in 2057 December.
2026 B2 (Sun-Gao)
Guoyou Sun reported the discovery of this comet, made with Xing Gao, on January 20 on the comets-ml. They had found a 15th
magnitude object on January 19.00 and quickly noted it as a comet, though the MPC placed it on the NEOCP as GS25115.
They asked for follow up observations to secure the orbit, as it was at a relatively small solar elongation an area that they
had particularly been searching. Additional observations came in and the MPC moved the object to the PCCP.
[MPEC 2026-B203, B205, CBET 5660, 2026 January 28/29] The comet was at perihelion at 1.3 au in 2026 January. The elongation
will increase but the comet will fade. Originally B203 gave a hyperbolic orbit,
but this was surreptitiously edited and then B205 was issued giving the new
orbit, which now exactly matches what is on B203.
The comet had a small outburst of around one magnitude around February 2 and
another around March 5.
2026 B3 (PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 20th magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
January 29.50. It was placed on the PCCP as P22lbY0. Once a preliminary orbit was available on the PCCP, PanSTARRS was
able to find pre-discovery images back to 2025 January 8. The ZTF also found pre-discovery observations from 2026
January 28 and 29.
[MPEC 2026-D28, CBET 5662, 2026 February 17/18] The comet is at perihelion at 5.8 au in 2027 May and is in a highly
inclined orbit.
2026 B4 (D/SWAN)
Hanjie Tan discovered a comet in SWAN imagery on January 22. This was clearly a comet, but the relatively poor resolution of the SWAN
imagery meant that the MPC wanted nothing to do with the derived positions. As more data accumulated it was possible for amateurs
to derive an approximate orbit and eventually this led to finding the comet in other space-based imagery (PUNCH - Polarimeter to
Unify the Corona and Heliosphere). This allowed a good orbit to be determined by amateurs, which suggested that the elongation would
increase rapidly in the second half of February, however the comet had seemed to fade in the SWAN images mid month.
Nothing was found from the ground, despite a deep search by Sam Deen on February 20 and it seems likely that the comet fragmented completely.
It may only have become bright enough for detetection as it disintegrated, as it could not be found in archival images either.
Note that the designation given is by myself as the MPC never even acknowledged the existance of the comet.
2026 BW8 [A/PANSTARRS]
PanSTARRS 2 discovered a 21st magnitude object in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
January 28.53.
[MPEC 2026-C75, 2026 February 11] The object is at perihelion at 1.1 au in 2026 May and is in a retrograde orbit with a
period of around 70 years. JPL class it as an Amor NEO.
2026 C1 (Tsuchinshan)
The Purple Mountain Observatory discovered a 19th magnitude object on February 11.83
with the 1.04 m Schmidt. Following posting on the PCCP as A11yzTN this was later seen to show cometary features
in PanSTARRS pre-discovery images as early as 2025 December 22. Following convention it was named as Tsuchinshan.
[MPEC 2026-F119, CBET 5673, 2026 March 21]
The comet is at perihelion at 1.2 au in 2028 November.
The comet could be a naked eye object around the time of perihelion in 2028 November, however it is then at high southern declination.
However, it moves northwards and could be a nice evening object in British skies in 2028 December.
2026 C2 (P/PANSTARRS)
PanSTARRS 1 discovered a 20th magnitude comet in images taken with the 1.8 m Ritchey-Chretien on
February 13.41. It was placed on the PCCP as P12lwY3. There were pre-discovery PanSTARRS images from January 29.
[MPEC 2026-F121, CBET 5674, 2026 March 21]
The comet is at perihelion at 2.4 au in 2026 July and has a period of 6.7 years.
JPL note it as an Encke type comet that made a 0.3 au approach to Jupiter in
2023 May, however their orbit is slightly different from the one given in the
CBET, which does not mention any close approaches.
2026 D1
Peter Van Wylen suggested that the Centaur 2009 DP2, which seems to have been anomalously bright in 2009. might be a comet in a
post to the comets-ml on 2025 March 26. At that point it hadn't been
picked up at its latest return which has perihelion at 3.8 au in 2025 September, nor had it been found in archival images from
the discovery apparition. It was first observed from the Observatoire Chante-Perdrix,
Dauban on 2009 February 17 by Claudine Rinner and Francois Kugel.
An object found on
2026 February 26.3 by the Kitt Peak Bok team was posted on the PCCP as C1CMKZ5 and then identified as 2009
DP2 by the MPC. Syuichi Nakano also independently made the linkage. David Rankin subsequently reported on comets-ml (following a post by myself noting the identity) that it did
show clear cometary features in the image taken by Hannes Groeller. It should be redesignated and I have used the logical designation for this return.
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 new comets in 2026 are given in ICQ format.
Full details of recently discovered objects will not appear until they are
available on the MPC 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 can be found via
the
Potential comet confirmation page.
More information on LINEAR. 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.
Published by Jonathan Shanklin. Jon Shanklin - jds@ast.cam.ac.uk