Comets

4072 TRACKED

Ice and dust on long orbits, growing a tail only when the Sun gets close enough to boil them.

RANKED LISTS

167P/CINEOS — 33.09 km

PRIMER — 60 SECONDS

Why the tail points away from the Sun

It is not trailing behind the motion — solar wind and radiation pressure push it directly away from the Sun, so an outbound comet flies tail-first.

Where they come from

Short-period comets from the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune; long-period ones from the Oort Cloud, a shell reaching a fair fraction of the way to the nearest star.

[

THE FAMOUS ONES

] 5 ENTRIES

NAME

CLASS

MASS

DISTANCE

MAG

CONSTELLATION

C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)★

177.4 AU · Sun

Halley-type comet

17.93 AU · Sun

Jupiter-family comet

3.146 AU · Sun

Encke-type comet

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko★

Jupiter-family comet

9.92×10¹² kg

3.462 AU · Sun

ALL CLASSES PARABOLIC COMET · 1763 JUPITER-FAMILY COMET · 846 COMET · 731 HYPERBOLIC COMET · 520 HALLEY-TYPE COMET · 111 ENCKE-TYPE COMET · 79 CHIRON-TYPE COMET · 22

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

0.093 AU · Sun

C/2024 G4 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

C/2024 G5 (Leonard)

530.1 AU · Sun

C/2024 G6 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

C/2024 G7 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

6.028 AU · Sun

C/2024 J2 (Wierzchos)

146.1 AU · Sun

C/2024 J3 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

3.865 AU · Sun

C/2024 J4 (Lemmon)

C/2024 L1 (PANSTARRS)

Halley-type comet

11.46 AU · Sun

C/2024 L2 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

8.326 AU · Sun

C/2024 L3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

6.859 AU · Sun

C/2024 L5 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

3.432 AU · Sun

C/2024 M1 (ATLAS)

Halley-type comet

29.93 AU · Sun

C/2024 N1 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

4.399 AU · Sun

C/2024 N3 (Sarneczky)

Hyperbolic comet

5.015 AU · Sun

C/2024 N4 (Sarneczky)

Hyperbolic comet

5.398 AU · Sun

C/2024 O1 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

6.608 AU · Sun

C/2024 PN7 (PANSTARRS)

67.45 AU · Sun

C/2024 Q3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

2.092 AU · Sun

C/2024 Q4 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

C/2024 R4 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

4.409 AU · Sun

C/2024 S1 (ATLAS)

96.26 AU · Sun

C/2024 T3 (PANSTARRS)

84.42 AU · Sun

C/2024 T5 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

3.841 AU · Sun

C/2024 U1 (PANSTARRS)

765.5 AU · Sun

C/2024 V1 (Borisov)

235.6 AU · Sun

C/2024 V2 (Sarneczky)

37.42 AU · Sun

C/2024 W1 (PANSTARRS)

44.85 AU · Sun

C/2024 X1 (Fazekas)

Jupiter-family comet

9.455 AU · Sun

C/2024 X2 (ATLAS)

50.58 AU · Sun

C/2024 X4 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

10.06 AU · Sun

C/2024 XK14 (Bok)

Halley-type comet

17.01 AU · Sun

C/2024 Y1 (Masek)

61.74 AU · Sun

C/2025 A1 (Lemmon)

Hyperbolic comet

5.345 AU · Sun

C/2025 A3 (Tsuchinshan)

Jupiter-family comet

10.19 AU · Sun

C/2025 A4 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

11.05 AU · Sun

C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)

118.7 AU · Sun

C/2025 B1 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

C/2025 B2 (Borisov)

Hyperbolic comet

8.239 AU · Sun

C/2025 D1 (Groeller)

Hyperbolic comet

14.123 AU · Sun

C/2025 D5 (PANSTARRS)

C/2025 D6 (ATLAS)

C/2025 E1 (PANSTARRS)

C/2025 F1 (ATLAS)

C/2025 F2 (SWAN)

Hyperbolic comet

0.333 AU · Sun

C/2025 J1 (Borisov)

C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

0.334 AU · Sun

C/2025 K1-B (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

0.336 AU · Sun

C/2025 K1-C (ATLAS)

0.334 AU · Sun

C/2025 K1-D (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

0.336 AU · Sun

C/2025 K2 (PANSTARRS)

Halley-type comet

25.07 AU · Sun

C/2025 K3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

C/2025 K4 (Siverd)

43.34 AU · Sun

C/2025 L1 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

C/2025 L2 (MAPS)

506.1 AU · Sun

C/2025 M1 (PANSTARRS)

C/2025 M2 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

2.721 AU · Sun

C/2025 M3 (PANSTARRS)

18 280 AU · Sun

C/2025 N1 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

1.356 AU · Sun

C/2025 N2 (ATLAS)

Hyperbolic comet

8.985 AU · Sun

C/2025 O2 (MAPS)

C/2025 Q1 (ATLAS)

C/2025 Q3 (ATLAS)

785.3 AU · Sun

C/2025 R1 (ATLAS)

165.7 AU · Sun

C/2025 R2 (SWAN)

86.85 AU · Sun

C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

0.499 AU · Sun

C/2025 T1 (ATLAS)

C/2025 V1 (Borisov)

Hyperbolic comet

0.463 AU · Sun

C/2025 V2 (Rankin)

Hyperbolic comet

1.952 AU · Sun

C/2025 W1 (Sankovich)

15 810 AU · Sun

C/2025 W2 (ATLAS)

Halley-type comet

26.96 AU · Sun

C/2025 X1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

33.86 AU · Sun

C/2025 Y1 (ATLAS)

C/2025 Y3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

2.227 AU · Sun

C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

0.006 AU · Sun

C/2026 A2 (Bok)

812.5 AU · Sun

C/2026 A3 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

4.825 AU · Sun

C/2026 AZ17 (Bok)

64.89 AU · Sun

C/2026 B2 (Sun-Gao)

525.5 AU · Sun

C/2026 B3 (PANSTARRS)

C/2026 C1 (Tsuchinshan)

12 560 AU · Sun

C/2026 H1 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

6.084 AU · Sun

C/2026 H2 (Leonard)

Hyperbolic comet

4.547 AU · Sun

C/2026 H3 (Bok)

Hyperbolic comet

7.728 AU · Sun

C/2026 J1 (PANSTARRS)

Halley-type comet

25.49 AU · Sun

C/2026 L1 (PANSTARRS)

785.6 AU · Sun

C/2026 L2 (PANSTARRS)

C/2026 M3 (MASTER)

Hyperbolic comet

12.073 AU · Sun

C/2026 M5 (PANSTARRS)

77.78 AU · Sun

C/2026 O1 (PANSTARRS)

Hyperbolic comet

1.503 AU · Sun

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet

Parabolic comet