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C/2008 W1

C/2008 W1 (STEREO)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 32.8. Historic peak was mag -15.7. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

Right ascension

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

32.8

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

0

Arc unknown

Last observation

Not in feed

COBS consensus does not publish an observer timestamp. Catalog ingested 53d ago.

Perihelion

2008-11-19

0.005 au

Peak window

2008-11-16 → 2008-11-22

COBS peak mag -15.7 on 2008-11-19 · perihelion 2008-11-19. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

-15.7

COBS / analyzed peak 2008-11-19

Catalog ingest

53d ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-14 20:00:20 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

0.005 au

e

1.0000

i

143.00°

Ω

6.05°

ω

84.70°

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/2008 W1 (STEREO)

    Informal: STEREO

    C/2008 W1 · 2026-09-14 18:28:00 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • STEREO

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:28:00 UTC → current

Contributors

  • No recent COBS visual or CCD reports linked yet.

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