Back to Contributors

C/1999 J2

C/1999 J2 (Skiff)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 8865 days ago at mag 26.6. Historic peak was mag 14.6. 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

Right ascension

J2000

Declination

J2000

Estimated magnitude

26.6

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

326

Arc unknown

Last observation

8865d ago

Sun, 09 Jun 2002 14:09:35 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2000-04-10

7.060 au

Peak window

2000-04-07 → 2000-05-11

COBS peak mag 14.6 on 2000-05-08 · perihelion 2000-04-10. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

14.6

COBS / analyzed peak 2000-05-08

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

7.060 au

e

1.0000

i

86.40°

Ω

50.20°

ω

127.00°

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/1999 J2 (Skiff)

    Informal: Skiff

    C/1999 J2 · 2026-09-14 18:27:54 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Skiff

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:54 UTC → current

Contributors

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