comets.venator.space

Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

Back to Contributors

P/2026 R2

P/2026 R2 (Leonard)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Southern hemisphere

Difficult — CCD / large telescope. Around mag 14.3. A large amateur CCD or a professional telescope is required. Historic peak was mag 12.3.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

15h 54m 04s

J2000

Declination

−67° 11′ 21″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

14.3

CCD / citizen telescope · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 76

Observations

57

Arc unknown

Last observation

15h ago

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 12:25:45 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2026-10-25

0.790 au

Peak window

2026-10-06 → 2026-10-28

COBS peak mag 12.3 on 2026-10-09 · perihelion 2026-10-25. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

12.3

COBS / analyzed peak 2026-10-09

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

q

0.790 au

e

0.8990

i

78.10°

Ω

179.00°

ω

206.00°

a

7.800 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

15.8 / 5.2

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

52°

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

  • P/2026 R2 (Leonard)

    Informal: Leonard

    P/2026 R2 · 2026-10-08 01:55:15 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Leonard

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-10-08 01:55:15 UTC → current

Contributors

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