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THE SIXTH SCENES
		Comets & Meteors -- Wanderers in Solar System

745 images displayed, Last updated on Nov 5, 2024

We can hardly recognize the changes of almost all the celestial objects. However, the comet, appears suddenly and leaves in a short period of time, is one of rare astronomical events that we can never see the same one during our lifetime. I have collected images of various comets and meteors in this section.

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Comets from 2015 on Comets in 2011 - 2014 Comets in 2007 - 2010 Comets in 2002 - 2006 Comets previous 2002

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Comet Olbers (13P/ Olbers)

This is a comet with a 69-year period discovered in 1815, and this return marks its third appearance since its discovery. The comet brightened up to 7th magnitude in the northwestern low dusk sky during the summer of 2024.

Aug 11, 2024, 83KB

May 4, 2024, 61KB

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

This is a new comet discovered at Tsuchinshan chinese national observatory and Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program operated by Hawaii Univ. on Jan 9 and Feb 22, 2023, respectively. This comet approached the Sun to within 0.4 a.u. by the end of September 2024, and it brightened to a maximum magnitude of 0.

Nov 3, 2024, 593+395KB Added on Nov 5, 2024

Oct 15, 2024, 128KB

Oct 13, 2024, 144+225KB

Jun 29, 2024, 136KB

May 3, 2024, 105KB

Apr 13, 2024, 90KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2021S3 PanSTARRS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Sep 24, 2021 by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii. It became visible in Japan around the beginning of 2024, and ascended northward along the Milky Way in the summer sky, spanning from late winter to early spring.

Early morning of May 4, 2024, 163KB

Early morning of Apr 13, 2024, 220KB

Early morning of Mar 9, 2024, 112KB

Early morning of Feb 10, 2024, 128KB

Comet Kushida (144P/Kushida)

This is a 7.6 years periodic comet discovered by a Japanese comet seeker Mr. Yoshio Kushida in 1994. This is the 4th return of the comet from its discovery. The comet moved eastward from Taurus to Orion between February and March 2024, and it brightened up to the 9th magnitude.

Mar 2, 2024, 142KB

Feb 11, 2024, 95KB

Jan 12, 2024, 126KB

Comet Tsuchinshan 1 (62P/Tsuchinshan 1)

This is a 6.63 year periodic comet discovered at Tsuchinshan chinese national observatory in 1965. This is 9th return from its discovery; it moved east from Leo to Virgo in Dec 2023 till Feb 2024, brightened about 7th magnitude in maximum.

Comet Nishimura (C/2023P1 Nishimura)

This is a comet discovered by Mr. Sakao Nishimura in Shizuoka Pref., Japan on Aug 12, 2023. It approached the sun to a distance of 0.22 au in Sep 2023, and it reached a maximum brightness of 2nd magnitude. Although observations were possible until the first half of Sep before its closest approach.

Early morning of Sep 10, 2023, 261KB

Early morning of Sep 7, 2023, 469KB

Early morning of Sep 2, 2023, 288KB

Early morning of Aug 26, 2023, 420KB

Early morning of Aug 21, 2023, 402+336KB

Comet Pons-Brooks (12P/ Pons-Brooks)

This is a long-period comet with a 71.2-year orbit discovered in 1812. Historical records also document its appearances in 1385 and 1457 before its discovery. This is the third return since its discovery, and it became as bright as magnitude 4 in the spring of 2024.
On July 20, 2023, it experienced an outburst, becoming approx. 5 magnitudes brighter than expected brightness.

Jan 13 2024 (with Crescent Nebula), 161KB

Jan 5 2024, 148KB

Dec 17 2023, 143KB

Dec 9 2023, 143KB

Nov 18-19 2023, 186KB

Sep 17 2023, 141KB

Aug 18 2023, 154KB

Comet Hartley 2 (103P/ Hartley 2)

This is a comet with a periodicity of 6.47 years, discovered in 1986. This time marks its sixth return since its discovery, and it became as bright as 7th magnitude in maximum in October 2023.

Comet Lemmon (C/2023H2 Lemmon)

It's a newly discovered comet on Apr 23, 2023 by Mt. Lemmon Survey with a brightness of 20.7th magnitude. The comet brightened up to 7th magnitude in maximum on Oct 2024.

Nov 18, 2023, 105KB

Comet ATLAS (C/2023E1 ATLAS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Mar 1, 2023 with a brightness of 18.8th magnitude by "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. The comet was observed with 9th to 10th magnitude under good conditions from July to August 2023.

Comet ZTF (C/2022E3 ZTF)

A comet discovered on Mar 2, 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) project at Mt. Palomar Observatory, California. The comet approached the earth down to 0.29 a.u. in February 2023 and brightened up to 5th magnitude.

Feb 24 2023, 436+747KB

Feb 11 2023, 768+488KB

Jan 30-31 2023, 597+560+522+635KB

Jan 28 2023, 645KB

Jan 20-21 2023, 410+404+511+411KB

Early morning of Jan 2 2023, 428KB

Early morning of Dec 25 2022, 442+108KB

Comet ZTF (C/2020V2 ZTF)

A comet discovered on Nov 2, 2020 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) project at Mt. Palomar Observatory, California. It passed near the celestial north pole by the end of 2022 and be observable at about 10th magnitude until around autumn 2023.

Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 (29P/ Schwassmann-Wachmann 1)

This is a periodic comet discovered in 1927 that orbits outside Jupiter for about 15 years. It is not very bright because the comet does not come close to the Sun, but it is known for its frequent outbursts. Another large outburst occurred in late Nov 2022 and was observed with 11th magnitude.

Dec 23 2022, 139KB

Dec 3 2022, 146KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017K2 PanSTARRS)

This is a newly discovered comet on May 21, 2017 by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii. The comet was observed untill autumn of 2022 at northern hemisphere, and brightened up around 5th or 6th magnitude in the end of the year visible at southern hemisphere.

Jun 24 2022, 135KB

May 27 2022, 201KB

May 3 2022, 182KB

Early morning of Apr 9 2022, 298KB

Early morning of Feb 26 2022, 160KB

Comet Borrelly (19P/ Borrelly)

This comet is 6.85 year periodic one discovered in 1904. From Jan to Mar 2022, the comet had the 17th approach to the Sun since the discovery with 9th magnitude in maximum.

Feb 26 2022, 148KB

Feb 5 2022, 122KB

Jan 3 2022, 122KB

Comet Leonard (C/2021A1 Leonard)

This comet is a newly discovered one on Jan 3, 2021 by G. J. Leonard at Mt. Lemmon Survey, Arizona. The comet closed to the Earth down to 0.2 a.u. and brightened up to 4th amgnitude in Dec 2021.

Early morning of Dec 11 2021, 178KB

Dec 3-4 2021, 121+461KB

Nov 27-28 2021, 123KB

Comet ATLAS (C/2019L3 ATLAS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Jun 10, 2019 with a brightness of 18.1th magnitude by "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. The comet moved in Lynx and Gemini until the spring of 2022, brightened up to about 10th magnitude in maximum.

Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko)

This comet is 6.43 year periodic one discovered in 1969. In the end of 2021, the comet had the 8th approach to the Sun since the discovery with 9th magnitude. The comet has been known that the Rosetta space probe launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) had a close observation in the previous return from 2014 to 2016.

Oct 10 2021 (with Crab Nebula), 491KB

Comet Palomer (C/2020T2 Palomer)

This is a newly discovered comet on Oct 7, 2020 by "Zwicky Transient Facility's Twilight Survey" operated at the Palomer Observatory in California. The comet was observed with 10 to 11th magnitude from spring to summer of 2021.

May 3 2021, 120KB

Comet ATLAS (C/2020R4 ATLAS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Sep 12, 2020 with a brightness of 19.7th magnitude by "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. The comet has brightened drastically in Dec 2020, closed to the Earth with 0.46 au in Apr 2021, and observe with a visual brightness of 8th or 9th magnitude.

May 3 2021, 101KB

Early morning of Apr 11 2021, 168KB

Comet ATLAS (C/2020M3 ATLAS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Jun 27, 2020 by "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. The comet brightened up to 8th magnitude from Nov to Dec 2020 and crossing northward in winter constellations.

Dec 10 2020 (with IC405 & IC410), 94+677KB

Nov 20 2020, 138KB

Nov 13 2020, 107KB

Oct 23 2020, 98KB

Comet Erasmus (C/2020S3 Erasmus)

This is a newly discovered comet on Sep 17, 2020 by Nicolas Erasmus in the "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. The comet brightened up to 6th magnitude in Dec 2020, observed untill the end of Nov with 7th magnitude.

Early morning of Nov 21 2020, 117KB

Early morning of Nov 14 2020, 77KB

Comet NEOWISE (C/2020F3 NEOWISE)

This is a newly discovered comet on Mar 27, 2020 by "Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE)" satellite of NASA. The comet brightened up to -1st magnitude in lower northeast dawn sky in beginning of July 2020. And moved to evening northwest sky, observed splendid over 10°-long tails.

Aug 15 2020, 282KB

Aug 7 2020, 340+376+491KB

Jul 31 2020, 235+297KB

Jul 23 2020, 340KB

Jul 19 2020, 317+359+406+326+475KB

Comet Lemmon (C/2019U6 Lemmon)

It's a newly discovered comet on Oct 31, 2019 by Mt. Lemmon Survey. The comet brightened up to 6th magnitude in Jun 2020, observed getting dimmer in evening west skies.

Aug 7 2020, 80KB

Jul 19 2020, 54KB

Comet ATLAS (C/2019Y4 ATLAS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Dec 28, 2019 by "Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program" operated by Hawaii Univ. Initially it was predicted that the comet would close to the sun with distance of 0.25au and brighten up to -1st magnitude in end of May 2020. However the nucleus collapsed on Apr 6, 2020, unfortunately we have lost a rare opportunity to appreciate a naked eye-comet in May 2020.

Apr 25 2020, 123KB

Apr 10 2020 (with NGC2403), 96+488KB

Mar 20 2020 (with M81 & M82), 91+572KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2017T2 PanSTARRS)

This is a newly discovered comet on Oct 2, 2017 by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii. The comet brightened up to about 8th magnitude in May 2020 under good condition.

Jun 9 2020 (with Arp299 galaxy), 84+75KB

Apr 25 2020, 127KB

Mar 20 2020, 142KB

Feb 23 2020 (with Double Cluster, IC1805 & IC1848), 120+683KB

Jan 31 2020 (with Double Cluster), 174+745KB

Comet Borisov (2I/ Borisov)

This is a newly discovered comet on Aug 30, 2019 by Gennady Borisov at an observatory in Crimea. It was firstly confirmed that the comet was an interstellar comet from out of solar system along a hyperbolic orbit with eccentricity of 3.3, resistered as the second interstellar object of "2I" after 1I/'Oumuamua discovered in 2017. The comet closed to the Earth with distance of about 2 au; we could observe with 15th magnitude in Dec 2019.

Early morning of Dec 28 2019, 140KB

Early morning of Nov 30 2019, 76KB

Early morning of Nov 10 2019, 76KB

Early morning of Nov 4 2019, 148KB

Early morning of Oct 10 2019, 90KB

Comet Africano (C/2018W2 Africano)

This is a newly discovered comet on Nov 27, 2018 by B.M.Africano with the Mt. Lemmon Survey, Arizona. The comet was observed with 8th magnitude in autumn of 2019.

Oct 26 2019, 75KB

Oct 4 2019, 58KB

Sep 27 2019, 80KB

Early morning of Aug 4 2019, 106KB

Comet Iwamoto (C/2018Y1 Iwamoto)

This is a newly discovered comet on Dec 18, 2018 by a Japanese comet seeker. The comet brightened up to 7th magnitude in Feb 2019 and observed under good conditions.

Mar 9 2019, 81KB

Mar 1 2019 (with IC405 & IC410), 90+138KB

Feb 23 2019, 89KB

Feb 16 2019, 72KB

Feb 1 & 2 2019, 105+86KB

Early morning of Dec 30 2018, 80KB

Comet Wirtanen (46P/ Wirtanen)

This comet is 5.4 year periodic one discovered in 1947. In December 2018, the comet has a great approach to the Earth in its 12th return, and we could appreciate the comet with a brightness of 3rd magnitude in maximum.

Feb 23 2019, 75KB

Feb 1 2019, 84KB

Jan 27 2019, 79KB

Dec 29 2018, 102+113KB

Spectrum on Dec 15 2018

Dec 14 & 15 2018, 69+121+165KB

Dec 8 2018, 70+85KB

Nov 10 2018, 62KB

Nov 3 2018, 39KB

Comet Stephan-Oterma (38P/ Stephan-Oterma)

This comet is one of long-periods with 38 years discovered in 1867. The comet could be observed in Jan 2019 with 9th to 10th magnitude.

Comet Swift-Gehrels (64P/ Swift-Gehrels)

This is a 9.41 year period comet discovered in 1889. The comet was observed with 10th to 11th magnitude in Nov to Dec 2018.

Feb 1 2019, 97KB

Jan 27 2019 (with the Pleiades), 95+165KB

Comet Giacobini-Zinner (21P/ Giacobini-Zinner)

This comet is short-period one with 6.54 years discovered in 1900. This is the 18th return since its discovery, the comet could be observed with a brightness of about 8th magnitude in August to September 2018 in higher northern skies.

Aug 16 & 17 2018 (with IC1805 & IC1848) , 77+133KB

Aug 9 2018 , 86KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2016R2 PanSTARRS)

This is a comet newly discovered by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii on Sep 7, 2016. The comet moves in winter constellations in latter half of 2017, observed with 11th magnitude for a long period.

Dec 22 2017 , 67KB

Comet Tsuchinshan 1 (62P/ Tsuchinshan 1)

This is a 6.63 year periodic comet discovered at Tsuchinshan chinese national observatory in 1965. This is 8th return from its discovery, the comet was observed with 10th to 11th magnitude in east dawn skies.

Early morning of Dec 23 2017 , 49KB

Comet ASASSN (C/2017O1 ASASSN)

A newly discovered comet on Jul 19, 2017 at the Inter-American observatory in Chile operated by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) project of the Ohio state univ. The comet was observed with about 8th magnitude in Oct 2017.

Dec 22 2017 , 70KB

Nov 11 2017 , 75KB

Sep 30 2017 (Rendez-vous with California Nebula), 65+101KB

Comet Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak (41P/ Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak)

This is a 5.42 years periodic comet discovered in 1858. It's well known as one of comets with frequent burst. In April 2017, the 29th return since its discovery, the comet was obseved with 5th magnitude in brightness.

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2015ER61 PanSTARRS)

This is a comet newly discovered by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii on Mar 14, 2015. The comet had a burst in beginning of Apr 2017 and brightened to 6th magnitude.

Early morning of May 21 2017, 53KB

Early morning of Apr 29 2017, 65KB

Comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova (45P/ Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova)

This is a comet with period of 5.25 years discovered by 3 seekers including a Japanese in 1948.
This approach was the 13th return since the discovery, the comet closed to the Earth in about 0.08 au in Feb 2017.

Mar 4 2017, 87KB

Feb 19 2017, 77KB

Early morning of Feb 5 2017, 107KB

Dec 30 2016, 56+65KB

Dec 24 2016, 67+95KB

Comet Johnson (C/2015V2 Johnson)

This is a newly discovered comet on Nov 3, 2015 by a member of the Catalina Sky Survey team of Mr. J.A. Johnson. The comet was brighten up about 7th magnitude in summer of 2017.

Early morning of Dec 24 2016, 67KB

Comet NEOWISE (C/2016U1 NEOWISE)

This is a newly discovered comet on Oct 21, 2016 by the NASA's WISE satellite of the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer project. We could observe the comet with 8th magnitude in maximum from end of 2016 to beginning of 2017 at northern hemisphere.

Early morning of Dec 31 2016, 89KB

Comet LINEAR (252P/ LINEAR)

This 5.3 years-periodic comet has been dicovered on Apr 7, 2000 by the automated survey of Lincoln Laboratory Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) team. In beginning of Mar 2016, the comet had a outburst and brightened from 14th to 10th magnitude in its 4th return, reached about 4th magnitude on Mar 21 at the closest approach to the Earth. In Apr 2016, we could observe a gigantic coma without tails.

May 1 2016, 84KB

Apr 9 2016, 89KB

Comet Catalina (C/2013UC10 Catalina)

This is a comet newly discovered by the automated sky survey of Alizona univ. on Oct 31, 2013. The comet brightened about 5th magnitude in Dec 2015 to spring of 2016.

Feb 11 2016, 84KB

Feb 7 2016, 113KB

Early morning of Jan 16&17 2016, 80+191+136KB

Spectrum on early morning of Jan 9 2016

Early morning of Jan 9 to 11 2016, 77+235+306KB

Early morning of Jan 4&5 2016, 63+142KB

Early morning of Dec 20 2015, 55+106KB

Early morning of Dec 13 2015, 84+85KB

Early morning of Dec 8 & 9 2015, 34+74+131KB

Early morning of Dec 5 & 6 2015, 159+97KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2013X1 PanSTARRS)

This is a comet newly discovered by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii on Dec 4, 2013. The comet brightened about 5th to 6th magnitude in spring to summer of 2016.

Early morning of Jun 4 2016, 79+89KB

Early morning of May 8 2016, 73KB

Feb 11 2016, 78KB

Jan 3 & 9 2016, 170KB

Dec 30 2015, 70KB

Dec 5 2015, 80KB

Nov 15 2015, 64KB

Comet PanSTARRS (C/2014S2 PanSTARRS)

This is a comet newly discovered by PanSTARRS-1 telescope in Maui, Hawaii on Sep 22, 2014 with a brightness of about 20th magnitude. The comet brightened about 9th magnitude in end of 2015 to beginning of 2016.

May 5 2016, 73KB

Apr 9 2016, 75KB

Early morning of Jan 16 2016, 73KB

Comet Lovejoy (C/2014Q2 Lovejoy)

This is a comet newly discovered by an Australian comet seeker of Mr. Terry Lovejoy on Aug 17, 2014. The comet brightened about 5th magnitude in maximum in end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015.

Aug 15 2015, 87KB

Mar 14 2015, 77+114KB

Feb 14 2015, 85+150+160KB

Feb 11 2015, 84+145KB

Jan 24 2015, 73+190+103KB

Jan 23 2015, 75+142+136KB

Jan 17 2015, 70+113+156KB

Jan 11 2015, 79+81KB

Jan 10 2015, 74+91+146KB

Jan 9 2015, 75+100KB

Dec 29 2014, 63+88+93KB

Spectrum on Dec 29 2014, 19KB

Comets from 2015 on Comets in 2011 - 2014 Comets in 2007 - 2010 Comets in 2002 - 2006 Comets previous 2002