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C/1968 L1

C/1968 L1 (Whitaker-Thomas)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 21209 days ago at mag 38.4. Historic peak was mag 9.7. Typical backyard telescopes will not show it. HST, JWST, or an 8–10 m class telescope might recover it with a good ephemeris.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

38.4

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

32

Arc unknown

Last observation

21209d ago

Thu, 22 Aug 1968 22:33:36 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

1968-05-07

1.260 au

Peak window

1968-05-04 → 1968-05-10

COBS peak mag 9.7 on 1968-05-07 · perihelion 1968-05-07. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

9.7

COBS / analyzed peak 1968-05-07

Catalog ingest

12h ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 13:20:17 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

1.260 au

e

0.9910

i

60.60°

Ω

255.00°

ω

354.00°

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

  • C/1968 L1 (Whitaker-Thomas)

    Informal: Whitaker-Thomas

    C/1968 L1 · 2026-09-14 18:27:57 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Whitaker-Thomas

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:57 UTC → current

Contributors

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