comets.venator.space

Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

Back to Contributors

C/2014 UN271

C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Northern hemisphere

Difficult — CCD / large telescope. Around mag 17.3. A large amateur CCD or a professional telescope is required. Historic peak was mag 15.8.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

23h 55m 11s

J2000

Declination

+35° 32′ 33″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

17.3

CCD / citizen telescope · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 66

Observations

286

Arc unknown

Last observation

6d ago

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:28:36 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2031-01-16

11.000 au

Peak window

2031-01-13 → 2031-04-07

COBS peak mag 15.8 on 2031-04-04 · perihelion 2031-01-16. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

15.8

COBS / analyzed peak 2031-04-04

Catalog ingest

9m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 23:00:05 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

11.000 au

e

1.0000

i

95.40°

Ω

190.00°

ω

326.00°

a

-2690.000 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

-1.6 / 3.7

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

142°

Reporting sources

  • COBS comet list

    ok

    Comet Observation Database magnitudes and perihelion data for the full COBS list (active and inactive).

  • COBS orbits

    ok

    Osculating elements and photometric parameters (H0, n) for active comets.

Name history

  • C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein)

    Informal: Bernardinelli-Bernstein

    C/2014 UN271 · 2026-09-12 01:44:41 UTC → current

Discoverers

Contributors

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