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Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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137P

137P/Shoemaker-Levy

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 21.8. Historic peak was mag 14.6. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

21.8

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

35

Arc unknown

Last observation

122d ago

Mon, 18 May 2026 03:36:00 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2028-07-29

1.930 au

Peak window

2028-07-26 → 2028-10-21

COBS peak mag 14.6 on 2028-10-18 · perihelion 2028-07-29. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

14.6

COBS / analyzed peak 2028-10-18

Catalog ingest

22m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-17 01:00:03 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

1.930 au

e

0.5720

i

4.86°

Ω

233.00°

ω

141.00°

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

  • 137P/Shoemaker-Levy

    137P · 2026-09-14 18:27:52 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Shoemaker-Levy

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:52 UTC → current

Contributors

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