☽︎Rosi's Morning Sky

Comets 2026: which ones you can see now

Comets are lumps of ice and dust on long orbits around the Sun. Near it the ice evaporates and head and tail begin to glow. Here are all comets that get brighter than magnitude 10 in the next twelve months without hiding in the Sun's glare, week by week with constellation and direction. Orbits as of 18 October 2026.

45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

Brightest at about magnitude 8.5 around 28 August 2027, in a telescope. Closest to the Sun on 31 August 2027, 0.6 AU from it. From both hemispheres.

WeekMagnitudeConstellationAngle from the SunVisibleDistance
8 August 20279.8 magOrion46°morning95 million km
15 August 20279.2 magGemini40°morning110 million km
22 August 20278.6 magGemini36°morning128 million km
29 August 20278.5 magCancer33°morning148 million km
5 September 20278.8 magCancer30°morning169 million km
12 September 20279.6 magLeo28°morning190 million km

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161P/Hartley-IRAS

Brightest at about magnitude 9.7 around 18 October 2026, in a telescope. Closest to the Sun on 27 November 2026, 1.3 AU from it. From both hemispheres.

WeekMagnitudeConstellationAngle from the SunVisibleDistance
18 October 20269.7 magDelphinus111°evening99 million km
25 October 20269.9 magDelphinus97°evening118 million km
1 November 202610.1 magAquila87°evening138 million km
8 November 202610.3 magAquila78°evening159 million km
15 November 202610.5 magSagitta71°evening179 million km

Show it on the star map

To be honest: how bright a comet gets can only be roughly predicted. The Minor Planet Center's values are averages; a comet can stay several magnitudes fainter or suddenly flare up. Under a dark sky the naked eye reaches about magnitude 6, binoculars 8 to 9, a small telescope 10 or 11; a comet is a diffuse glow and looks fainter than a star of the same magnitude.