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Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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73P-C

73P-C/Schwassmann-Wachmann

CometClass Ecatalogued
Both hemispheres

Not currently visible. Last report 3556 days ago at mag 18.0. Historic peak was mag 8.9. Typical backyard telescopes will not show it. HST, JWST, or an 8–10 m class telescope might recover it with a good ephemeris.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

08h 47m 54s

J2000

Declination

+05° 57′ 11″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

18.0

CCD / citizen telescope · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 66

Observations

813

Arc unknown

Last observation

3556d ago

Sat, 11 Feb 2017 08:23:59 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2022-08-25

0.973 au

Peak window

2022-08-22 → 2022-09-06

COBS peak mag 8.9 on 2022-09-03 · perihelion 2022-08-25. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

8.9

COBS / analyzed peak 2022-09-03

Catalog ingest

12m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-11-07 03:00:09 UTC

Light curve

Brightness over time (V mag)

Gold = reported observations. Steel dashed family = ensemble (nominal / outburst / fade / disruption).

Tail length

Converted to degrees from COBS (d / arcmin / arcsec). Empty until analysis has pulled the archive.

Ensemble is a first-pass H0/n photometric model plus observed samples — not a trained ML forecast yet. The background analyzer walks the catalog one object at a time so COBS is not flooded. Disruption track rises after perihelion to stand in for solar-wind stripping.

Orbital elements

q

0.973 au

e

0.6850

i

11.20°

Ω

199.00°

ω

69.60°

a

3.090 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

9.0 / 4

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

91°

Reporting sources

  • COBS comet list

    ok

    Comet Observation Database magnitudes and perihelion data for the full COBS list (active and inactive).

  • COBS orbits

    ok

    Osculating elements and photometric parameters (H0, n) for active comets.

Name history

  • 73P-C/Schwassmann-Wachmann

    73P-C · 2026-09-13 22:21:22 UTC → current

Discoverers

Contributors

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Pips are observation weight on this object (log of report count). Hover for catalog-wide weight.