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421P

421P/McNaught

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 28.1. Historic peak was mag 18.2. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

Right ascension

J2000

Declination

J2000

Estimated magnitude

28.1

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

0

Arc unknown

Last observation

Not in feed

COBS consensus does not publish an observer timestamp. Catalog ingested 2d ago.

Perihelion

2021-01-22

1.650 au

Peak window

2021-01-19 → 2021-01-25

COBS peak mag 18.2 on 2021-01-22 · perihelion 2021-01-22. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

18.2

COBS / analyzed peak 2021-01-22

Catalog ingest

2d ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-14 20:00:15 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

1.650 au

e

0.6740

i

10.10°

Ω

55.30°

ω

260.00°

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

  • 421P/McNaught

    421P · 2026-09-14 18:27:52 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • McNaught

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

Contributors

  • No recent COBS visual or CCD reports linked yet.

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