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C/2021 B3

C/2021 B3 (NEOWISE)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not currently visible. Last report 2038 days ago at mag 30.9. Historic peak was mag 18.3. 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

Right ascension

J2000

Declination

J2000

Estimated magnitude

30.9

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

1

Arc unknown

Last observation

2038d ago

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:09:35 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2021-03-09

2.170 au

Peak window

2021-02-14 → 2021-03-12

COBS peak mag 18.3 on 2021-02-17 · perihelion 2021-03-09. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

18.3

COBS / analyzed peak 2021-02-17

Catalog ingest

11h ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 13:20:19 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.

No tail measures stored yet for this object.

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

2.170 au

e

0.9370

i

119.00°

Ω

67.30°

ω

294.00°

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/2021 B3 (NEOWISE)

    Informal: NEOWISE

    C/2021 B3 · 2026-09-14 18:28:01 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • NEOWISE

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-14 18:28:01 UTC → current

Contributors

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