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C/1959 Q2

C/1959 Q2 (Alcock)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 24488 days ago at mag 38.5. Historic peak was mag 1.1. 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

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

38.5

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

13

Arc unknown

Last observation

24488d ago

Thu, 22 Oct 1959 00:00:00 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

1959-09-15

—

Peak window

1959-09-12 → 1959-09-18

COBS peak mag 1.1 on 1959-09-15 · perihelion 1959-09-15. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

1.1

COBS / analyzed peak 1959-09-15

Catalog ingest

14h ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-11-06 14:20:21 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

—

e

—

i

—

Ω

—

ω

—

a

—

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

—

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

—

Reporting sources

  • COBS comet list

    ok

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

Name history

  • C/1959 Q2 (Alcock)

    Informal: Alcock

    C/1959 Q2 · 2026-09-14 18:27:57 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Alcock

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:57 UTC → current

Contributors

  • S. C. Venter

    Visual Observer · VEN · 4 reports · last 24533d ago

  • Alan McClure

    Visual Observer · MCC02 · 2 reports · last 24534d ago

  • P. P. Savrukhin

    Visual Observer · SAV04 · 2 reports · last 24536d ago

  • S. M. Kozik

    Visual Observer · KOZ01 · 2 reports · last 24536d ago

  • David D. Meisel

    Visual Observer · MEI01 · 1 reports · last 24535d ago

  • G.E.D. Alcock

    Visual Observer · ALC · 1 reports · last 24537d ago

  • Roy W. Panther

    Visual Observer · PAN · 1 reports · last 24488d ago

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