Comet Ikeya–Seki, formally designated C/1965 S1, 1965 VIII, and 1965f, was a long-period comet discovered independently by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki. First observed as a faint telescopic object on September 18, 1965, the first calculations of its orbit suggested that on October 21, it would pass just 450,000 km (280,000 mi) above the Sun's surface, and would probably become extremely bright.
Comet Encke, or Encke's Comet, is a periodic comet that completes an orbit of the Sun once every 3.3 years. Encke was first recorded by Pierre Méchain on 17 January 1786, but it was not recognized as a periodic comet until 1819 when its orbit was computed by Johann Franz Encke. Like Halley's Comet, it is unusual in its being named after the calculator of its orbit rather than its discoverer. Like most comets, it has a very low albedo, reflecting only 4.6% of the light its nucleus receives, although comets generate a large coma and tail that can make them much more visible during their perihelion. The diameter of the nucleus of Encke's Comet is 4.8 km.
The Great Comet of 1882 formally designated C/1882 R1, 1882 II, and 1882b, was a comet which became very bright in September 1882. It was a member of the Kreutz Sungrazers, a family of comets which pass within 1 R☉ of the Sun's photosphere at perihelion. The comet was bright enough to be visible next to the Sun in the daytime sky at its perihelion. The comet made its closest approach to Earth on 16 September 1882 at 0.99 AU and then came to perihelion the next day on 17 September.
Comet Arend–Roland was discovered on November 8, 1956, by Belgian astronomers Sylvain Arend and Georges Roland on photographic plates. As the eighth comet found in 1956, it was named Arend–Roland 1956h after its discoverers. Because it was the third comet to pass through perihelion during 1957, it was then renamed 1957 III. Finally, it received the standard IAU designation C/1956 R1 (Arend–Roland), with the "C/" indicating that it was a non-periodic comet and the "R1" showing that it was the first comet reported as discovered in the half-month designated by "R". The last is equivalent to the period September 1–15.
Comet White–Ortiz–Bolelli was a bright comet which appeared in 1970. It was a member of the Kreutz sungrazers, a family of comets which resulted from the break-up of a large parent comet several centuries ago. It was already easily visible to the naked eye when first discovered, and reached a maximum apparent magnitude of +1.
65P/Gunn is a periodic comet in the Solar System which has a current orbital period of 6.79 years. The comet is a short-period comet, orbiting the Sun every 6.79 years inside the main asteroid belt between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.
Comet Bennett, formally known as C/1969 Y1, was one of the two bright comets observed in the 1970s, along with Comet West and is considered a great comet. The name is also borne by an altogether different comet, C/1974 V2. Discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969, while still almost two AUs from the Sun, it reached perihelion on March 20, passing closest to Earth on 26 March 1970, as it receded, peaking at magnitude 0. It was last observed on 27 February 1971.
13P/Olbers is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 69 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with a period between 20 and 200 years. The comet last passed perihelion 30 June 2024 and it was previously seen in 1956. The next perihelion is in 2094.
Comet 96P/Machholz or 96P/Machholz 1 is a short-period sungrazing comet discovered on May 12, 1986, by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz on Loma Prieta peak, in central California using 130 millimetres (5.1 in) binoculars. On June 6, 1986, 96P/Machholz passed 0.404 AU from the Earth. 96P/Machholz last came to perihelion on January 31, 2023. The comet has an estimated diameter of around 6.4 km (4.0 mi).
54P/de Vico–Swift–NEAT is a periodic comet in the Solar System first discovered by Father Francesco de Vico on August 23, 1844. It has become a lost comet several times after its discovery. The comet makes many close approaches to Jupiter. The comet was last observed on 20 December 2009 by Ageo Observatory.
Comet Arend or 50P/Arend is a periodic comet in the Solar System which was discovered on October 4, 1951. It was discovered by astronomer Sylvain Julien Victor Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium located in the municipality of Uccle. The comet was illustrated at approximately a magnitude of 14 and also exhibited a nucleus within a coma 14 arc seconds across. From its discovery, the comet has had 7 perihelions with its last return of Earth recorded on November 1, 2007. The comet's next perihelion will be in the year 2024.
The Great Southern Comet of 1887, or C/1887 B1 using its International Astronomical Union (IAU) designation, was a bright comet seen from the Southern Hemisphere during January 1887. Later calculations indicated it to be part of the Kreutz Sungrazing group. It came to perihelion on 11 January 1877 at a distance of 0.00483 AU (723 thousand km) with a velocity of 606.1 km/s. Since the Sun has a radius of 696000 km, the comet passed about 27000 km from the surface of the Sun.
255P/Levy, formerly P/2006 T1 and P/2011 Y1, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.25 years. It last came to perihelion on 14 January 2012. During the 2006 passage the comet achieved an apparent magnitude of ~9.5. Levy (PK06T010) was believed to have been recovered on 3 June 2011 at magnitude 19.8, but other observatories were unable to confirm a recovery. It was most likely a false positive because of large residuals. Levy was recovered on 17 December 2011 at magnitude 19.8, and given the second designation 2011 Y1. It was then numbered.
Comet 252P/LINEAR is a periodic comet and near-Earth object discovered by the LINEAR survey on April 7, 2000. The comet is a Jupiter family comet, meaning that it passes quite close to the orbit of Jupiter.
Comet 141P/Machholz or 141P/Machholz 2 is a periodic Jupiter family comet with an orbital period of 5.3 years. It was discovered by Donald Machholz on 13 August 1994. A few days after the discovery a number of condensations were found near the main component of the comet, indicating that the comet had fragmented between 1987 and 1989, during its previous perihelion.
C/1979 Y1 (Bradfield), also known as Comet 1979X and 1979l, is a long period comet discovered by William A. Bradfield on 24 December 1979. The comet has an orbital period of 308 ± 6 years and last passed perihelion on 21 December 1979. It is considered to be the parent body of the July Pegasids meteor shower. It is expected to next come to perihelion around 2287.
Comet Tago–Sato–Kosaka, formally designated as C/1969 T1, is a non-periodic comet that became visible in the naked eye between late 1969 and early 1970. It was the first comet ever observed by an artificial satellite.
Comet Burnham, formally designated as C/1959 Y1, is a hyperbolic comet that became visible to the naked eye in 1960. It is one of six comets discovered by American astronomer, Robert Burnham, Jr. It brightened up to a magnitude of 3.5.
Comet Ikeya-Seki, formally designated as C/1967 Y1, is a retrograde non-periodic comet discovered by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki on 1967. It is the second comet discovered together by the two Japanese astronomers after C/1965 S1.
Comet du Toit, formal designation C/1945 X1, is a sungrazing comet that was observed four times by South African astronomer, Daniel du Toit, on December 1945. The comet is a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family.
