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Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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C/2026 AZ17

C/2026 AZ17 (Bok)

CometClass Ecatalogued

Both hemispheres

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 19.6. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

JSON CSV

Right ascension

18h 24m 17s

J2000

Declination

−04° 42′ 02″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

19.6

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

Class E · priority 60

Observations

Arc unknown

Last observation

7d ago

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 19:26:23 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2026-11-23

2.470 au

Peak window

2026-09-10 → 2026-11-26

COBS peak mag 19.4 on 2026-09-13 · perihelion 2026-11-23. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

19.4

COBS / analyzed peak 2026-09-13

Catalog ingest

15m 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

2.470 au

0.9620

36.20°

150.00°

147.00°

65.100 au

MOID

—

H0 / n

8.8 / 6.3

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

55°

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

C/2026 AZ17 (Bok)
Informal: Bok
C/2026 AZ17 · 2026-09-13 22:21:23 UTC → current

Discoverers

Bok
Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-13 22:21:23 UTC → current

Contributors

Jakub Koukal
CCD Observer · KOU · 14 reports · last 30d ago
Pieter-Jan Dekelver
CCD Observer · DEK01 · 9 reports · last 7d ago
Sergey Shurpakov
CCD Observer · SHU · 6 reports · last 76d ago
Erik Bryssinck
CCD Observer · BRY04 · 5 reports · last 87d ago
Steffen Fritsche
CCD Observer · FRI02 · 5 reports · last 45d ago
Thomas Lehmann
CCD Observer · LEH02 · 2 reports · last 60d ago
Jordi Solaz
CCD Observer · SOL02 · 1 reports · last 30d ago

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