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C/1989 Y2

C/1989 Y2 (McKenzie-Russell)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 13436 days ago at mag 35.7. Historic peak was mag 12.2. 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

35.7

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

17

Arc unknown

Last observation

13436d ago

Wed, 24 Jan 1990 07:12:00 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

1989-11-07

—

Peak window

1989-11-04 → 1989-12-15

COBS peak mag 12.2 on 1989-12-12 · perihelion 1989-11-07. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

12.2

COBS / analyzed peak 1989-12-12

Catalog ingest

14h ago

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

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.

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/1989 Y2 (McKenzie-Russell)

    Informal: McKenzie-Russell

    C/1989 Y2 · 2026-09-14 18:27:56 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • McKenzie-Russell

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:56 UTC → current

Contributors

  • Andrew Pearce

    Visual Observer · PEA · 5 reports · last 13454d ago

  • Alan Hale

    Visual Observer · HAL · 4 reports · last 13445d ago

  • David Seargent

    Visual Observer · SEA · 2 reports · last 13465d ago

  • Paul Camilleri

    Visual Observer · CAM03 · 2 reports · last 13461d ago

  • Akira Tominaga

    Visual Observer · TOM · 1 reports · last 13463d ago

  • Andrea Boattini

    Visual Observer · BOA · 1 reports · last 13463d ago

  • Antonella Bartolini

    Visual Observer · BAR04 · 1 reports · last 13463d ago

  • David Levy

    Visual Observer · LEV · 1 reports · last 13436d ago

  • Juro Kobayashi

    Visual Observer · KOB01 · 1 reports · last 13439d ago

  • Stephane Garro

    Visual Observer · GAR02 · 1 reports · last 13458d ago

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