False color image of comet C/2011 KP36 (Spacewatch), obtained on 2016 Jun. 29 (1h13-1h32UT) with 60-cm, f/3.3 Deltagraph. Exposure time 5x120s. Copyright © 2016 by H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.
Welcome to COBS!
Comet Observation database (COBS) was developed in 2010 and is maintained by Crni Vrh Observatory. It is a unique service offering comet observers to submit, display and analyse comet data in a single location and is opened to comet observers worldwide. Registered observers may submit the observations using a simple web-based form which will store their observations into an SQL database and display them in ICQ format.
Data stored in COBS database is freely available to everyone with respect to our data usage policy, and can be analysed with COBS online tools or exported and further used in other analysis software and publications.
Database currently contains more than 225000 comet observations of more than 1100 different comets and represents the largest available database of comet observations.
Amateur comet observers can make a useful contribution to science by observing comets and submitting their observations to the COBS, as the professional astronomers do not have the time nor the telescopes needed to gather such data. We encourage comet observers worldwide to submit their observations and contribute to the COBS database.
Light-curve of Comet 237P/LINEAR (Sep 23, 2016).
Recent observations
Type Comet name Obs date Mag Dia DC Tail Observer
C 237 2016 10 01.39 12.1 1 RAMaa
C 174 2016 10 01.27 15.9: 1.1 RAMaa
V 56 2016 09 30.94 15.0 0.3 3 SZA
V 2015VL62 2016 09 30.92 15.8 0.15 3 SZA
V 2015V2 2016 09 30.81 12.8: 0.8 4 HAR11
C 2011KP36 2016 09 30.27 13.6 0.8 RAMaa
C 2014A4 2016 09 30.24 16.7 < 0.2 RAMaa
V 2015VL62 2016 09 29.91 15.6 0.3 4 SZA
V 174 2016 09 29.89 15.4 0.3 3 SZA
V 53 2016 09 29.81 14.3 0.5 3 SZA
V 2016A8 2016 09 29.80 13.8 0.4 1 SZA
V 2011KP36 2016 09 28.44 13.7: 0.6 3 WYA
C 2016N4 2016 09 28.43 15.2 0.5 RAMaa
V 53 2016 09 28.43 14.0 1 3 WYA
V 237 2016 09 28.42 12.7 0.8 6 WYA
Comet Observing Planner
Current comet magnitudes
Comet Magnitude Trend Observable When visible Comet Magnitude Trend Observable When visible 144P/Kushida 9.5 fade 40 N to 5 S early morning 81P/Wild 10.5 fade Poor elongation 43P/Wolf-Harrington 10.5 fade 45 N to 20 S early morning PanSTARRS (2013 X1) 11 fade 20 N to 85 S evening 237P/LINEAR 11.5 bright 15 N to 60 S evening 9P/Tempel 11.5 fade 30 N to 80 S evening PanSTARRS (2014 S2) 12 fade Poor elongation LINEAR (2016 A8) 12 fade 65 N to 30 S all night Johnson (2015 V2) 12.5 bright 70 N to 45 N early morning Spacewatch (2011 KP36) 13 steady 60 N to 60 S best morning 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 13 ? varies 40 N to 85 S best evening Catalina (2013 US10) [13.5 fade 65 N to 5 N morning Lovejoy (2014 Q2) 13.5 ? fade 60 N to 35 S evening 53P/Van Biesbroeck 14 fade 40 N to 70 S best evening PanSTARRS (2014 W2) 14 fade 55 N to 20 S early evening 226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski [14 ? bright 60 N to 60 S morning
List of comets maintained by Jonathan Shanklin at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds.
Latest news
How to follow Rosetta’s grand finale
Rosetta is set to complete its historic mission in a controlled descent to the surface of its comet on 30 September, with the end of mission confirmation predicted to be within 20 minutes of 11:20 GMT (13:20 CEST). Details of how, when and where to follow the key moments online, starting with a review of the mission’s impressive haul of science highlights on 29 September, can be found below
Rosetta in numbers
Some impressive numbers from Rosetta's mission. Click for full res!
Astronomers capture best view ever of disintegrating comet
Astronomers have captured the sharpest, most detailed observations of a comet breaking apart 67 million miles from Earth, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The images suggest that the roughly 4.5-billion-year-old comet, named 332P/Ikeya-Murakami, or comet 332P, may be spinning so fast that material is ejected from its surface. The resulting debris is now scattered along a 3,000-mile-long trail, larger than the width of the continental United States.
CometWatch 18 September – a new view of Rosetta’s impact site
As the Rosetta mission draws to a close next Friday, 30 September 2016, the CometWatch team here at ESA realised that this will be the last 'regular' entry of this popular feature on the blog (*) through which we have shared a great deal of views of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with Rosetta's navigation camera (NAVCAM) since July 2014, shortly before Rosetta's arrival at the comet.
Summer fireworks on Rosetta’s comet
Brief but powerful outbursts seen from Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko during its most active period last year have been traced back to their origins on the surface. In the three months centred around the comet’s closest approach to the Sun, on 13 August 2015, Rosetta’s cameras captured 34 outbursts.