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Venator

Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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C/2020 K1

C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 263 days ago at mag 20.8. Historic peak was mag 12.4. 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

20.8

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

486

Arc unknown

Last observation

263d ago

Sat, 27 Dec 2025 16:40:00 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2023-05-08

3.070 au

Peak window

2023-05-05 → 2023-06-08

COBS peak mag 12.4 on 2023-06-05 · perihelion 2023-05-08. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

12.4

COBS / analyzed peak 2023-06-05

Catalog ingest

17m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-17 00:30:04 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

3.070 au

e

0.9980

i

89.70°

Ω

94.40°

ω

214.00°

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/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS)

    Informal: PANSTARRS

    C/2020 K1 · 2026-09-14 18:27:59 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • PANSTARRS

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:27:59 UTC → current

Contributors

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