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 306900 comet observations of more than 1790 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
Four-panel mosaic image of comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS), obtained on 2026 Apr. 8-10 with 30cm f/4.6 Rezman I telescope and ZWO ASI 2600MC camera. Each panel is 5 x 2-min exposure. Copyright © 2026 by T. Špenko, Rezman Observatory.
Comets visible today at Crni Vrh Observatory
| Comet | Mag | T | Source | Best time | Const | Obs | Chart | Comet PK | Comet MPC | Type | MPC name |
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Location: Crni Vrh Observatory
Latitude: 45.94583; longitude: 14.07111; elevation: 726.0
Limiting mag: 15; Min altitude: 0; Min solar elong: 0; Min moon elong: 0
All times are in UTCComet finding charts provided by Dominic Ford: https://in-the-sky.org/
Lightcurve of comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS)
Recent observations
| Type | Comet | Obs date | Meth | Mag | T | App | P | Dia | DC | Tail | Tail unit | PA | User | Pk |
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Top news
New Keys Assigned for GAIA Catalog Synthetic Derived Magnitudes
New ICQ Observation Method Keys for Sloan/SDSS u′g′r′i′z′ CCD Photometry
Latest news
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS contains strange water never seen in our solar system
A mysterious comet from beyond our solar system is giving astronomers a rare glimpse into alien worlds — and it may have formed in a place far colder and stranger than anything around our Sun. The interstellar visitor, called 3I/ATLAS, contains an astonishingly high amount of “heavy water,” far exceeding anything seen in our own solar system.
Hubble unexpectedly catches comet breaking up
Comet K1, whose full name is Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), had just passed its closest approach to the Sun and was heading out of the Solar System. Though it had been intact just days before, K1 fragmented into at least four pieces while the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was watching. The odds of that happening while Hubble viewed the comet are extraordinarily miniscule.
Messengers of ice and time. What comets could teach us about our place in space
Long before telescopes or space missions, our ancestors gazed up in wonder at comets that appeared in the night sky. These ghostly visitors were seen as omens, messengers, or divine portents. Today, we know comets not as harbingers but as ancient assemblages of ice and dust left over from the dawn of the Solar System — time capsules carrying water and organic compounds that predate Earth itself.
Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is spraying water across the solar system
For millions of years, a frozen wanderer drifted between the stars before slipping into our solar system as 3I/ATLAS—only the third known interstellar comet ever spotted. When scientists turned NASA’s Swift Observatory toward it, they caught the first-ever hint of water from such an object, detected through a faint ultraviolet glow of hydroxyl gas. Even more surprising, the comet was blasting out water at a rate of about 40 kilograms per second while still far from the Sun—much farther than where most comets “switch on.”
Did an exploding comet wipe out the mammoths?
Scientists are uncovering new clues that a cosmic explosion may have rocked Earth at the end of the last ice age. At major Clovis-era sites, researchers found shocked quartz—evidence of intense heat and pressure consistent with a comet airburst rather than volcanism or human activity. The event could have sparked massive fires, blocked sunlight, and triggered a rapid return to ice-age conditions. These harsh changes may explain the sudden loss of megafauna and the disappearance of the Clovis culture.