This is a list of comets listed by type. Comets are sorted into four categories: periodic comets, non-periodic comets, comets with no meaningful orbit, and lost comets, displayed as either P, C, X, and D. Many of the earlier comets to be observed in history are designated with an X or D due to not having the tools to measure a comet's orbit accurately and eventually losing it. X/1106 C1 is a good example. The orbital elements for the older non-periodic comets in the list assume that the comet has an eccentricity of roughly 1, and therefore the calculations are only approximate.
After Edmond Halley recognized that several apparitions of a comet every 75.3 years dating back to 239 BC were the same comet, it gave way to a new designation of periodic comets, with the first being named 1P/Halley. To date, there are 380 of these periodic comets, with many more on the way to getting an official designation.
Non-periodic comets
Non-periodic comets are generally comets that have only been seen on one occasion, or comets that have periods of thousands of years, to comets that are truly non-periodic, and will only come around the Solar System. The following comets are organized by their described types:
Ejection-trajectory comets
These are comets with an eccentricity so large that they only made one pass through the Solar System. These comets are further divided into near-Parabolic and Hyperbolic comets. A hypothetical true parabolic comet would have an eccentricity of exactly 1, and hyperbolic comets are any comet with an eccentricity of over 1. Most of the comets marked with an X are from the material cited here and the other comets are sourced from JPL Small-Body Database. Due to their hyperbolic orbits, it is impossible to determine where they come from, but it is expected that they are from the Oort Cloud, a cloud of icy bodies several thousand Astronomical units away from the Sun. However a few of these may be Interstellar comets Comets observed in early times, which were later found to be observations of numbered periodic comets, are marked with /. For instance, X/-239 K1 was an appearance of Halley's comet in 239 BC, and as such is written as 1P/-239 K1. A significant portion of the comets passing closer than 0.01 AU to the Sun are fragments of the comet of 371 BC, which fractured into several pieces on the 326 AD perihelion, which further fractured into thousands of pieces on the 1106 AD perihelion, creating the cometary group now known as the Kreutz sungrazers. Due to the sheer size, and the fact that none of the group members have been given a numbered designation, the members are not stated on this list, and instead are listed in a separate list further [|below].
Near-parabolic comets
Comets with a very high eccentricity and a period of over 1,000 years that don't quite have a high enough velocity to escape the Solar System. Often, these comets, due to their extreme semimajor axes and eccentricity, will have small orbital interactions with planets and minor planets, most often ending up with the comets fluctuating significantly in their orbital path. These comets probably come from the Oort cloud, a cloud of comets orbiting the Sun from ~10,000 to roughly 50,000 AU.
Lost comets
The following comets, assigned with a D before their name, were subsequently lost after their discovery, and often remain lost to this day:
Comets with a period between 20 and 200 years, named after the first identified member, Halley's Comet. These comets orbit between the orbit of Jupiter and Pluto, and are thought to be long-period comets that slowly migrated inwards, or Jupiter family comets that had been slingshotted outwards by Jupiter's gravity
Unnumbered Jupiter-family comets
While Jupiter-family comets are officially defined by, they can also be loosely defined by any comet with a period of less than 20 years, a relatively low inclination, and an orbit coinciding loosely with that of Jupiter's. These comets are often patchily observed, as orbital interactions with the planet often cause comets' orbits to become perturbed, causing them to not be found at the expected position in the sky and subsequently lost.
One such Jupiter-family comet, Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, approached close enough to Jupiter sometime between the late 1960s and early 1970s, and was caught into orbit of it. By the comet's discovery, an extremely close approach with Jupiter one year previously had fractured the comet into many pieces, before it collided with Jupiter between 16 July and 22 July 1994. The fragments are listed separately here, at epoch 1994/05/08.
Fragment
Eccentricity
Semimajor axis
Period
Inclination
Perihelion distance
Jupiter impact date
A
0.216209
6.86479
17.99
6.00329
5.380563
1994/07/16 20:11
B
0.215620
6.85975
17.97
5.99022
5.380652
1994/07/17 02:50
C
0.215169
6.85550
17.95
5.98196
5.380411
1994/07/17 07:12
D
0.214725
6.85158
17.93
5.97297
5.380370
1994/07/17 11:54
E
0.214411
6.84877
17.92
5.96663
5.380318
1994/07/17 15:11
F
0.213585
6.84163
17.90
5.94846
5.380362
1994/07/18 00:33
G
0.212881
6.83520
17.87
5.93551
5.380112
1994/07/18 07:32
H
0.211779
6.82547
17.83
5.91287
5.379973
1994/07/18 19:32
K
0.210425
6.81351
17.79
5.88507
5.379775
1994/07/19 10:21
L
0.209361
6.80416
17.75
5.86313
5.379632
1994/07/19 22:17
N
0.208277
6.79472
17.71
5.84046
5.379536
1994/07/20 10:31
P1
0.207745
6.79035
17.69
5.82929
5.379689
1994/07/20 16:30
P2
0.207887
6.79147
17.70
5.83126
5.379608
1994/07/20 15:23
Q1
0.207405
6.78700
17.68
5.82282
5.379348
1994/07/20 20:12
Q2
0.207453
6.78749
17.68
5.82361
5.379403
1994/07/20 19:44
R
0.206581
6.77982
17.65
5.80587
5.379232
1994/07/21 05:33
S
0.205737
6.77248
17.63
5.78848
5.379129
1994/07/21 15:15
T
0.205504
6.77073
17.62
5.78300
5.379319
1994/07/21 18:10
U
0.205167
6.76764
17.61
5.77631
5.379141
1994/07/21 21:55
V
0.204616
6.76283
17.59
5.76489
5.379046
1994/07/22 04:22
W
0.204282
6.75982
17.58
5.75982
5.378919
1994/07/22 08:05
Sungrazing comets
These comets have perihelion distances of less than 0.055 AU. Most belong to the Kreutz Sungrazers, a group of comets split off from the great comet of 1106, and before that, the comet of 371 BC. There are also several other cometary groups, all much smaller, that occasionally pass through. This list covers all Sungrazing groups, including sporadic, or ungrouped sungrazers.
Kreutz sungrazers
The largest group of them all, the Kreutz sungrazers are a group of comets descended from the breakup of a comet in 326 AD. They live up to their name, typically traveling less than 2 solar radii from the Sun. Because they travel so close, they often burn up, and it is the cause of their breakup. Many bright comets are members of the group, including Comet Ikeya–Seki, which broke in 3 pieces.
Meyer group
This is the second largest sungrazing group, and the only one with no discerned period. Further observations of this group may eventually find one, however.
Comet designation
Name
Eccentricity
Semimajor axis
Period
Inclination
Node
Perihelion distance
Perihelion date
C/1996 N3
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.12
73.16
0.0351
1996/07/03
C/1997 G7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.33
73.94
0.0351
1997/04/08
C/1997 H4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.13
72.33
0.0356
1997/04/21
C/1997 H5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
79.18
69.13
0.0371
1997/04/29
C/1997 L2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.69
72.62
0.0381
1997/06/10
C/1997 O2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.92
73.07
0.0356
1997/07/25
C/1997 U8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.91
71.15
0.031
1997/10/19
C/1997 X7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.62
72.82
0.0346
1997/12/15
C/1998 G9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
84.26
67.91
0.037
1998/04/12
C/1998 V8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.01
72.88
0.0363
1998/11/03
C/1998 W7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.12
73.21
0.0362
1998/11/28
C/1999 F3
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.31
72.36
0.0363
1999/03/17
C/1999 K16
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.73
72.64
0.0339
1999/05/26
C/1999 L9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.73
70.16
0.038
1999/06/09
C/1999 P7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.32
73
0.0372
1999/08/13
C/2000 B8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.75
75.09
0.034
2000/01/16
C/2000 C2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.35
73.71
0.037
2000/02/03
C/2000 C5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.22
65.16
0.0358
2000/02/07
C/2000 J8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.5
73.65
0.0367
2000/05/06
C/2000 N4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
74.5
73.89
0.0351
2000/07/04
C/2000 X9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.66
73.96
0.0386
2000/12/03
C/2001 C7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.68
54.75
0.035
2001/02/11
C/2001 E1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.37
72.24
0.0357
2001/03/15
C/2001 K11
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.36
73.28
0.0339
2001/05/16
C/2001 L10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.7
72.4
0.0355
2001/06/01
C/2001 R7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.77
85.28
0.0372
2001/09/12
C/2001 T1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.87
72.56
0.0364
2001/10/09
C/2001 V6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
69.76
73.64
0.0374
2001/11/02
C/2001 X8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.28
74.35
0.0371
2001/12/12
C/2001 X10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.46
73.79
0.036
2001/12/15
C/2002 A4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.13
75.45
0.0366
2002/01/01
C/2002 H8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
69.34
73.71
0.0336
2002/04/20
C/2002 P3
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.84
75.81
0.0359
2002/08/12
C/2002 R8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
75.95
59.71
0.0343
2002/09/15
C/2002 T2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.94
70.73
0.0369
2002/10/04
C/2002 U6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.06
74.62
0.0359
2002/10/28
C/2002 V4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.5
74.75
0.0357
2002/11/09
C/2002 X6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.55
74.75
0.0346
2002/12/02
C/2002 Y2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.52
74.51
0.04
2002/12/19
C/2003 B1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.36
74.15
0.0355
2003/01/17
C/2003 H5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.35
75.17
0.0351
2003/04/27
C/2003 K5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.5
74.11
0.0348
2003/05/21
C/2003 K6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.87
73.67
0.0372
2003/05/30
C/2003 U4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
74.94
73.97
0.0357
2003/10/21
C/2003 W2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.26
74.96
0.0314
2003/11/29
C/2003 Y1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.81
74.7
0.0354
2003/12/20
C/2004 B2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.1
74.89
0.0353
2004/01/29
C/2004 C2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.92
74.6
0.0325
2004/02/05
C/2004 G2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.62
74.01
0.0383
2004/04/10
C/2004 H4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
67.87
74.62
0.0343
2004/04/16
C/2004 H5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
68.62
76.03
0.0335
2004/04/30
C/2004 T2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.67
72.45
0.0346
2004/10/09
C/2004 U3
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.25
74.01
0.0375
2004/10/18
C/2005 B4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.69
71.69
0.0353
2005/01/30
C/2005 C1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
67.47
75.84
0.0392
2005/02/02
C/2005 H2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
78.83
72.43
0.0362
2005/04/17
C/2005 H9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.54
73.96
0.0352
2005/04/29
C/2005 K4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.25
74.48
0.0373
2005/05/16
C/2005 K9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.06
74.47
0.0354
2005/05/28
C/2005 O5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
74.41
67.93
0.0361
2005/07/26
C/2005 Q2
SOHO
1.0
–
–
74.51
76.48
0.0377
2005/08/23
C/2005 Q8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.42
77.2
0.0377
2005/08/25
C/2005 T9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.51
75.23
0.0368
2005/10/08
C/2005 W9
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.63
73.13
0.037
2005/11/19
C/2005 W11
SOHO
1.0
–
–
76.08
72.71
0.0396
2005/11/20
C/2005 Y8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.75
74.29
0.0338
2005/12/25
C/2006 B4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.15
73.89
0.0345
2006/01/26
C/2006 F6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
74.13
75.03
0.0333
2006/03/23
C/2006 J5
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.12
71.46
0.0387
2006/05/08
C/2006 R3
SOHO
1.0
–
–
75.14
66.29
0.0337
2006/09/02
C/2006 T6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
67.07
100.84
0.0353
2006/10/10
C/2006 U10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.68
74.91
0.0346
2006/10/20
C/2006 X10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.63
74.2
0.0348
2006/12/15
C/2007 A6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.57
70.67
0.0382
2007/01/11
C/2007 C10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.77
73.19
0.0351
2007/02/07
C/2007 F4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.41
76.09
0.0347
2007/03/28
C/2007 J1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.59
73.87
0.0348
2007/05/02
C/2007 K12
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.52
73.94
0.0346
2007/05/18
C/2007 R10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
75.8
73.16
0.037
2007/09/15
C/2007 U7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.43
71.48
0.0325
2007/10/27
C/2007 V10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
76.95
73.51
0.035
2007/11/09
C/2007 X7
SOHO
1.0
–
–
71.98
73.58
0.0378
2007/12/10
C/2007 X14
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.47
73.79
0.0345
2007/12/14
C/2007 Y8
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.77
73.61
0.0344
2007/12/28
C/2008 D6
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.85
72.5
0.0338
2008/02/19
C/2008 F1
SOHO
1.0
–
–
66.71
94.56
0.0318
2008/03/20
C/2008 H4
SOHO
1.0
–
–
73.46
72.35
0.0373
2008/04/18
C/2008 J10
SOHO
1.0
–
–
72.18
73.31
0.0369
2008/05/07
C/2008 J12
SOHO
1.0
–
–
70.94
71.57
0.0379
2008/05/08
Kracht group
This and the Marsden group, both are periodic, both with periods of approximately 3 years. They contain fewer members than the Meyer and Kreutz groups, probably as a result of their periodic nature, leading them to burn up more frequently. They are believed to be the parent bodies of the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower, occurring between July and August and usually having 15–20 meteors an hour.