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Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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31P

31P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 19.7. Historic peak was mag 17.6. 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

19.7

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

536

Arc unknown

Last observation

45h ago

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 01:39:43 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2028-03-19

3.410 au

Peak window

2028-01-24 → 2028-03-22

COBS peak mag 17.6 on 2028-01-27 · perihelion 2028-03-19. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

17.6

COBS / analyzed peak 2028-01-27

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

3.410 au

e

0.1940

i

4.55°

Ω

114.00°

ω

18.10°

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

  • 31P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

    31P · 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.