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Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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29P

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

CometClass Ecatalogued
Both hemispheres

Difficult — CCD / large telescope. Around mag 16.3. A large amateur CCD or a professional telescope is required. Historic peak was mag 15.0.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

11h 53m 04s

J2000

Declination

−06° 01′ 26″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

16.3

CCD / citizen telescope · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 66

Observations

7625

Arc unknown

Last observation

26d ago

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:07:52 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2019-04-18

5.800 au

Peak window

2019-04-15 → 2019-10-11

COBS peak mag 15.0 on 2019-10-08 · perihelion 2019-04-18. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

15.0

COBS / analyzed peak 2019-10-08

Catalog ingest

12m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 22:00:03 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.

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

5.800 au

e

0.0429

i

9.36°

Ω

312.00°

ω

51.30°

a

6.060 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

6.5 / 1

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

9°

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

  • 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

    29P · 2026-09-13 22:21:22 UTC → current

Discoverers

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