comets.venator.space

Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

Back to Contributors

P/2026 U1

P/2026 U1 (Gafton)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Both hemispheres

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 18.8. Historic peak was mag 15.3. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

10h 48m 12s

J2000

Declination

+02° 28′ 12″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

18.8

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

0

Arc unknown

Last observation

4d ago

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:55:12 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2027-08-01

1.660 au

Peak window

2027-05-12 → 2027-08-04

COBS peak mag 15.3 on 2027-05-15 · perihelion 2027-08-01. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

15.3

COBS / analyzed peak 2027-05-15

Catalog ingest

1m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-11-07 03:30:21 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

1.660 au

e

0.4570

i

5.52°

Ω

220.00°

ω

29.50°

a

3.060 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

10.6 / 4

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

61°

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 U1 (Gafton)

    Informal: Gafton

    P/2026 U1 · 2026-11-05 09:04:21 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Gafton

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-11-05 09:04:21 UTC → current

Contributors

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