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C/1995 O1

C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 2779 days ago at mag 23.6. Historic peak was mag -1.7. 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

23.6

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

8062

Arc unknown

Last observation

2779d ago

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:43:12 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

1997-03-29

0.925 au

Peak window

1997-03-24 → 1997-04-01

COBS peak mag -1.7 on 1997-03-27 · perihelion 1997-03-29. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

-1.7

COBS / analyzed peak 1997-03-27

Catalog ingest

9h ago

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

0.925 au

e

0.9950

i

89.70°

Ω

282.00°

ω

131.00°

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/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)

    Informal: Hale-Bopp

    C/1995 O1 · 2026-09-14 18:27:53 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Hale-Bopp

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:53 UTC → current

Contributors

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