C/1988 C1
Not currently visible. Last report 14119 days ago at mag 35.9. Historic peak was mag 12.1. Typical backyard telescopes will not show it. HST, JWST, or an 8–10 m class telescope might recover it with a good ephemeris.
Right ascension
—
J2000
Declination
—
J2000
Estimated magnitude
35.9
Professional survey · COBS consensus
Confidence
33
Class E · priority 60
Observations
1
Arc unknown
Last observation
14119d ago
Sat, 12 Mar 1988 05:31:12 GMT · COBS consensus
Perihelion
1987-12-26
1.930 au
Peak window
1987-12-23 → 1988-02-05
COBS peak mag 12.1 on 1988-02-02 · perihelion 1987-12-26. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.
Historic peak
12.1
COBS / analyzed peak 1988-02-02
Catalog ingest
14h ago
Venator last wrote this row 2026-11-06 14:20:21 UTC
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.
No tail measures stored yet for this object.
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.
q
1.930 au
e
1.0000
i
93.20°
Ω
148.00°
ω
347.00°
a
—
MOID
—
H
—
H0 / n
—
NEO score
—
PHA score
—
RMS
—
Elongation
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COBS comet list
okComet Observation Database magnitudes and perihelion data for the full COBS list (active and inactive).
C/1988 C1 (Maury-Phinney)
Informal: Maury-Phinney
C/1988 C1 · 2026-09-14 18:27:58 UTC → current
Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:58 UTC → current
Visual Observer · HAL · 1 reports · last 14119d ago
Pips are observation weight on this object (log of report count). Hover for catalog-wide weight.