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Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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C/2024 J3

C/2024 J3 (ATLAS)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Southern hemisphere

Visible to modest telescopes (mag 13.7). Last report 1 days ago.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

09h 47m 47s

J2000

Declination

−39° 25′ 08″

J2000

Estimated magnitude

13.7

Small telescope · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 76

Observations

42

80.00 d arc

Last observation

25h ago

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 21:07:12 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2026-11-25

3.870 au

Peak window

2026-08-12 → 2026-11-28

COBS peak mag 13.7 on 2026-08-15 · perihelion 2026-11-25. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

13.7

COBS / analyzed peak 2026-08-15

Catalog ingest

15m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 22:00:04 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

3.870 au

e

1.0000

i

75.60°

Ω

286.00°

ω

74.10°

a

149000.000 au

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

-2.0 / 9

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

49°

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/2024 J3 (ATLAS)

    Informal: ATLAS

    C/2024 J3 · 2026-09-08 02:09:56 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • ATLAS

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-08 17:27:23 UTC → current

Contributors

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