Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1), the most recent "Great Comet," photographed on January 23, 2007 from Western Australia. Wikipedia / Public domain

Comets have long been my favorite type of sky object. I'm a soft touch for their beauty and changeability. I like surprises, too. You never know exactly what to expect when you point telescope at one. Changes in brightness, color and tail length reveal just how dynamic these objects are. Fragilely composed of honeycombed dust and ice, a comet is liable to crumble into a beautiful mess at any moment, especially when passing near its nemesis, the Sun.

Each year I eagerly look forward to the next batch of returning comets and maybe a bright discovery or two. Some years are comet-rich. Others, we barely scrape by. If you think 2019 skimped on bright comets, you're right. But get ready for 2020 — it may be even leaner.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Last year, amateur and professional astronomers discovered about 50 new comets (some still await confirmation), and recovered 17 returning visitors. Not a single one of the new discoveries was bright enough to see in amateur equipment, save for 2019's most famous visitor, interstellar comet 2I/Borisov. A few fortunate souls with 16-inch, and larger, telescopes scrounged up this 14.5-magnitude object in late December.

Ah, the good old days of naked-eye comets! 46P/Wirtanen (left) and the Pleiades star cluster on Dec. 16, 2018.

Bob King

Bright comets in 2019 included 46P/Wirtanen — a 5th magnitude holdover from 2018 — and long-period Comet Iwamoto (C/2018 Y1), which reached 6th magnitude last February. Comet Africano (C/2018 W2) pulled through at a respectable 8th magnitude in late September, while Comets 38/Stephan-Oterma, PanSTARRS (C/2016 M1), 64P/Swift-Gehrels, and PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2) achieved magnitude 10.

In 2020 there'll be three relatively bright comets gracing the sky: PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2), 2P/Encke, and 88P/Howell. Encke's Comet will be visible only from the southern hemisphere within two months of its June 26 perihelion. Thanks to its short period (just 3.3 years) many amateurs have already seen this comet on multiple apparitions.

Comet 88P/Howell will reach 9th magnitude around perihelion on September 26, but for northern latitudes will be poorly placed low in the southwestern sky at dusk. Comet-hungry northerners should instead focus their attention on C/2017 T2, which peaks in May at around magnitude 8 as it plies the circumpolar sky. Let's face it. We desperately need another Hale-Bopp!


PanSTARRS (C/2017 T2)

C/2017 T2 was discovered by the PanSTARRS-1 survey telescope back in October 2017. At the time the comet was nearly as distant as Saturn, and glowed feebly at magnitude 20. Astronomer Carl Hergenrother describes it as a dynamically new, long-period comet from the Oort Cloud, on its first trip around the Sun since the infancy of the solar system.

This sketch of Comet PanSTARRS made on Dec. 16.1 UT, 2019, while observing with a 15-inch Dobsonian reflector. The comet showed a 45 arc-second-wide coma with a bright, well-condensed nucleus and faint, southward-pointing tail. North is up.

Bob King

Exotic forms of ice on these "fresh" comets often vaporize or sublimate at a great distance from the Sun, resulting in a sudden increase in brightness — at first. But after the initial outburst, they're famous for fizzling. Do the names Kohoutek or ISON ring a bell? Both harken from the Oort Cloud and neither lived up to expectations.

Barring an unexpected outburst, T2 should glow at magnitude 8 around the time of its May 4 perihelion, and remain nearly that bright for the entire month as it travels from Camelopardalis to the Bowl of the Big Dipper. From a dark sky, the comet should be easily visible in 50mm binoculars and remain in view the entire night from mid-northern latitudes. Unless a new and brighter comet is discovered, T2 will be our best shot in 2020.

Comet PanSTARRS reveals a bright,pale blue coma and a short curving dust tail in this photo taken on January 13, 2020.

Rolando Ligustri

Observers in the southern hemisphere should get their first look at the comet in late June when it appears low in the northern sky, in Canes Venatici. The comet sticks around through August, remaining as bright as magnitude 10.5 as it glides across southern Boötes. For now, T2 is a small, condensed object of magnitude 9.5, with a silky, south-pointing tail about 2′ long. An 8-inch scope will show the comet easily.

Comet PanSTARRS narrowly misses the Double Cluster later this month. Stars are plotted to magnitude 10.5 with the comet's position marked daily at 0h UT. To convert to EST, subtract 5 hours; 6 hours for CST, and so on. For example, 0h UT January 15 = 7 p.m. EST the previous evening, January 14. Click here for additional maps.

Chart generated using SkyMap software

Astrophotography alert! The comet skirts the famed Double Cluster in Perseus from January 24th through the 29th, passing within about 0.5° of the cores of NGC 869 and NGC 884. Don't miss this striking double-double conjunction!

2P/Encke

Comet 2P/Encke displayed a bright, emerald green coma and a long, skinny tail during its most recent apparition. This photo was taken on March 27. 2017.

Gerald Rhemann

First seen by French astronomer Pierre Méchain, in 1786, Comet Encke was only recognized as a periodic comet in 1819, when German astronomer Johann Encke computed its orbit. Like Halley's Comet, Encke is named for the person who calculated its orbit rather than its discoverer. Enke's Comet has a period of just 3.3 years, and this year will mark its 64th apparition. I've seen it at nine returns starting in 1980 and most recently viewed it in 2017. In 2023, we can look forward to an apparition that'll be favorable for both northern and southern hemispheres.

Comet Encke may brighten to 7th magnitude for southern-hemisphere observers in July. The map depicts the view from Santiago, Chile. Stars are plotted to magnitude 6.

Chart generated using SkyMap software

Perihelion this year occurs on June 26. By early July, skywatchers at southern latitudes will nab the comet shining around magnitude 7 to 8 as it crosses Cancer in evening twilight, passing just 15′ south of the open cluster M67 on July 7. Moving rapidly eastward, the comet fades quickly, dimming to 11th magnitude by month's end.

88P/Howell

Discovered by American astronomer Ellen Howell, in August 1981, this year's will be the comet's 9th observed return. Occasional close approaches to Jupiter have resulted in the comet's perihelion distance decreasing in recent decades. Amateurs may get their first look at 88P in early May as it emerges in Virgo, glowing weakly at magnitude 12. On May 20 it passes a mere 10′ north of the close double star Gamma (γ) Virginis, and on September 4, slides a similar distance south of globular cluster NGC 5897, in Libra.

88P/Howell takes a southern route, cutting across Libra and Scorpius when brightest in September and October. Stars plotted to magnitude 9.5.

Chart generated using SkyMap software

Perihelion occurs on September 26 when 88P passes just 1° north of Antares, in Scorpius, and peaks at around 9th magnitude. Although the comet will be visible from mid-northern latitudes throughout autumn, it remains low in southwestern sky at twilight's end as it tracks across the southern constellations Ophiuchus and Sagittarius. Observers in the southern hemisphere will get the best views.

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann

Go ahead, say it out loud with all the German accent you can muster — SHVAS-maan VACH-maan. And don't forget to clear your throat on the "ACH." 29P/S-W is subject to unpredictable outbursts which can raise the comet's nominal magnitude 16 to as bright as 10.5. Though varying in brightness, several outbursts occur each apparition, which is the reason some amateurs (including me) have seen this comet on more returns than any other. Chances are it'll blow again in 2020.

Using special filtering techniques, this pair of images of Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann shows expanding shells of dust and gas (left) as well as jets of material shooting from the nucleus (right) during the object's October, 2008, outburst.

Juan LaCruz / CC BY-SA 4.0

Each outburst provides an opportunity to see one of the most distant comets visible in amateur telescopes. 29P/S-W orbits between 5.7 and 6.2 a.u. from the Sun, tens of millions of kilometers beyond Jupiter. Dr. Richard Miles, Asteroids and Remote Planets section director for the British Astronomical Association, attributes the outbursts to pressurized pockets of carbon monoxide and methane that erupt explosively as cryovolcanoes from solar heating. If you happen to catch 29/S-W early in an outburst, it resembles a bright, compact planetary nebula. To keep tabs on it so you don't miss a blowup, subscribe to the Comets Mailing List or visit the ALPO Comet Blog or Seiichi Yoshida's Weekly Comets Update.

Gamma (γ) Pegasi in the lower left corner of the Great Square will help point you to 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann this winter. Stars plotted to magnitude 11.5.

Chart generated using SkyMap software

The comet currently locates in central Pisces and is well placed until the beginning of March. After its conjunction with the Sun in mid-April, 29P/S-W returns to the morning sky in late June in Aries. Its high declination will improve the visibility of even modest outbursts for northern-hemisphere skywatchers.

Watch-worthy Lesser Comets