Welcome to COBS!

Comet Observation database (COBS) saw first light in 2010 and is maintained by Crni Vrh Observatory. It is a free and unique service for comet observers worldwide which allows submission, display and analysis of comet data in a single location.

Amateur astronomers can make valuable contributions to comet science by observing comets and submitting their observations to COBS as professional astronomers typically do not have telescope time required to acquire regular observations. We therefore encourage comet observers worldwide to submit their observations and contribute to the COBS database.

Registered observers may submit observations using a web based form which stores the observations in an SQL database and stores them in ICQ format. Observations may be queried and plotted in the website or exported for further processing, analysis and publication. The database currently contains more than 281500 comet observations of more than 1600 different comets and represents the largest available database of comet observations.

The data stored in COBS is freely available to everyone who honors our data usage policy. Please cite COBS as the reference if you use it for comet studies.

Latest image

Image of periodic comet 13P/Olbers, obtained on 2024 Aug. 24 (20h00-20h15UT) with 15-cm, f/3.5 Quattro-150P telescope and Canon 6D camera. Exposure time was 29x30 seconds at ISO 2500. Image scale is 5.1 arc sec/pixel. Copyright © 2024 by H. Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory.

Comets visible today at Crni Vrh Observatory

Comet Mag T Source Best time Const Obs Chart Comet PK Comet MPC Type MPC name

Location: Crni Vrh Observatory
Latitude: 45.94583; longitude: 14.07111; elevation: 726.0
All times are in UTC

Comet finding charts provided by Dominic Ford: https://in-the-sky.org/

Lightcurve of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

Recent observations

Type Comet Obs date Meth Mag T App P Dia DC Tail Tail unit PA User Pk

Top news

ICQ confirmed new abbreviation keys
September 06, 2022

We have received a confirmation for some abbreviation keys currently assigned by COBS team from the ICQ.
Please use the new ICQ assigned and confirmed keys for future observations.

Latest news

The origins of dark comets
July 11, 2024

Up to 60% of near-Earth objects could be dark comets, mysterious asteroids that orbit the sun in our solar system that likely contain or previously contained ice and could have been one route for delivering water to Earth, according to a new study.

Is this comet doomed?
July 10, 2024

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) is about to fall apart. It's "inevitable," according to a new study by astronomer Zdenek Sekanina. "Evidence suggests that the comet has entered an advanced phase of fragmentation," he says.

SOHO reaches 5000 comets
March 28, 2024

On March 25, 2024, a citizen scientist in the Czech Republic spotted a comet in an image from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, which has now been confirmed to be the 5,000th comet discovered using SOHO data. SOHO has achieved this milestone over 28 years in space, even though it was never designed to be a comet hunter.

Records of cometary dust hitting the asteroid Ryugu
January 26, 2024

The Hayabusa2 mission that collected samples from the asteroid Ryugu has provided a treasure trove of insights into our solar system. After analyzing samples further, a team of researchers have unearthed evidence that cometary organic matter was transported from space to the near-Earth region.

How to see newly discovered Comet Nishimura
September 10, 2023

The new comet to look for with the naked eye.

A new comet is visible in the predawn skies as it passes close to Earth on its journey around the Sun. Comet Nishimura is green in color with a long, white tail. It will make its closest pass by Earth on Sept. 12, 2023, and then will carry on toward the Sun.