Comet West, formally designated C/1975 V1, 1976 VI, and 1975n, was a comet described as one of the brightest objects to pass through the inner Solar System in 1976. It is often described as a "great comet."
Comet Giacobini–Zinner is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It was discovered by Michel Giacobini, who observed it in the constellation of Aquarius on December 20, 1900. It was recovered two orbits later by Ernst Zinner, while he was observing variable stars near Beta Scuti on October 23, 1913.
The Great Comet of 1882, formally designated as 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.
Comet Skorichenko–George, formally designated as C/1989 Y1, 1990 VI, and 1989e1, is a non-periodic comet co-discovered by astronomers Boris Skorichenko and Doug George on December 17, 1989. It has a hyperbolic trajectory around the Sun, but still weakly bound to it by its barycenter.
Comet IRAS–Araki–Alcock is a long-period comet that, in 1983, made the closest known approach to Earth of any comet in the last 200 years, at a distance of about 0.0312 AU.
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).
C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) is a hyperbolic comet discovered in 2002 by the LINEAR project. The comet brightened to a magnitude of 2.2 in 2004.
C/1980 E1 is a non-periodic comet discovered by Edward L. G. Bowell on 11 February 1980 and which came closest to the Sun (perihelion) in March 1982. It is leaving the Solar System on a hyperbolic trajectory due to a close approach to Jupiter. In the 43 years since its discovery only two objects with higher eccentricities have been identified, 1I/ʻOumuamua (1.2) and 2I/Borisov (3.35).
43P/Wolf–Harrington is a periodic comet discovered on December 22, 1924, by Max Wolf in Heidelberg, Germany. In 2019 it passed within 0.065 AU of Jupiter, which lifted the perihelion point and increased the orbital period to 9 years.
The Great Comet of 1823, also designated C/1823 Y1 or Comet De Bréauté-Pons, was a bright comet visible from December 1823 to April 1824.
(196256) 2003 EH1 is an asteroid, classified as near-Earth object of the Amor group. It was discovered on 6 March 2003, by astronomers of the LONEOS program at Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. Peter Jenniskens (2003–2004) proposed that it is the parent body of the Quadrantid meteor shower. 2003 EH1 is likely an extinct comet and may even be related to the comet C/1490 Y1. 2003 EH1 came to perihelion on 12 March 2014.
C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) is a long period comet with a retrograde orbit discovered on December 18, 2018, by Japanese amateur astronomer Masayuki Iwamoto. Its period is estimated to be 1,733 years. It passed closest to Earth on February 13, 2019. It was expected to reach a magnitude of between 6.5 and 7.5, visible in binoculars or a small telescope and was reported to reach a magnitude of 5.5 by Juan Jose Gonzalez on February 13, before fading to 7.6 two weeks later.
C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) was a comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered by the ATLAS survey on December 28, 2019. Early predictions based on the brightening rate suggested that the comet could become as bright as magnitude 0 matching the brightness of Vega. It received widespread media coverage due to its dramatic increase in brightness and orbit similar to the Great Comet of 1844, but on March 22, 2020, the comet started disintegrating. Such fragmentation events are very common for Kreutz Sungrazers. The comet continues to fade and did not reach naked eye visibility. By mid-May, comet ATLAS appeared very diffuse even in a telescope. C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has not been seen since May 21, 2020.
C/2019 U6 (Lemmon), or Comet Lemmon is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on October 31, 2019. It made its closest approach to the Sun on June 18, 2020. In June 2020 it was visible near the naked eye limit at an apparent magnitude of 6.0. It is the 3rd brightest naked eye comet of 2020 after C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and C/2020 F8 (SWAN). It remained visible near the naked eye limit in June.
P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) is a Jupiter-family comet discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System on 10 June 2019. It was initially reported as the first known Jupiter trojan asteroid to display cometary activity, but its classification as a Jupiter trojan was retracted after closer examination and a longer observation arc revealed its orbit to be unstable like a typical Jupiter family comet and implied that its position near the trojans is temporary.
C/2023 E1 (ATLAS) is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 85 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with an orbital period of between 20 and 200 years. The comet was discovered on 1 March 2023 by ATLAS South Africa. Upon discovery, the comet had an apparent magnitude of about 19 and had a very condensed coma. The comet was subsequently found in images obtained by other observatories back on 25 December 2022.
C/2023 V5 (Leonard) was discovered on 6 November 2023 by the Catalina Sky Survey. It came to perihelion on 13 December 2023 at 0.849 AU (127.0 million km), from the Sun. It is probably a Liller family comet, together with C/1988 A1 (Liller), C/1996 Q1 (Tabur), C/2015 F3 (SWAN), and C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS).
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 Dodwell–Forbes, formally designated as C/1932 Y1, is a long-period comet discovered independently by Alexander F. I. Forbes and George F. Dodwell in late 1932. It was Dodwell's only comet discovery, while it was Forbes's third overall.
C/1988 A1 (Liller) is a non-periodic comet discovered on 11 January 1988 by William Liller. The comet is part of a family of comets, known as the Liller family, which also includes the comets C/1996 Q1 (Tabur), C/2015 F3 (SWAN), C/2019 Y1 (ATLAS), and C/2023 V5 (Leonard).
