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Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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C/2004 Q2

C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 7408 days ago at mag 29.9. Historic peak was mag 3.3. 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

29.9

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

2863

Arc unknown

Last observation

7408d ago

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 15:07:11 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2005-01-15

1.190 au

Peak window

2004-12-29 → 2005-01-18

COBS peak mag 3.3 on 2005-01-01 · perihelion 2005-01-15. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

3.3

COBS / analyzed peak 2005-01-01

Catalog ingest

9h ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 13:20:15 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.

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

1.190 au

e

0.9980

i

38.80°

Ω

93.30°

ω

19.50°

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/2004 Q2 (Machholz)

    Informal: Machholz

    C/2004 Q2 · 2026-09-14 18:27:52 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • Machholz

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

Contributors

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