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

P/2021 A5 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

3.052 AU · Sun

P/2021 C2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

9.541 AU · Sun

P/2021 HS (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.196 AU · Sun

P/2021 J3 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

8.933 AU · Sun

P/2021 L2 (Leonard)

Jupiter-family comet

4.053 AU · Sun

P/2021 N1 (ZTF)

Jupiter-family comet

P/2021 N2 (Fuls)

Jupiter-family comet

6.933 AU · Sun

P/2021 P3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.422 AU · Sun

P/2021 PE20 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.746 AU · Sun

P/2021 Q5 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.283 AU · Sun

P/2021 R1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

8.407 AU · Sun

P/2021 R3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

P/2021 R4 (Wierzchos)

Jupiter-family comet

P/2021 R5 (Rankin)

Jupiter-family comet

4.798 AU · Sun

P/2021 R6 (Groeller)

Jupiter-family comet

6.274 AU · Sun

P/2021 R8 (Sheppard)

Encke-type comet

3.019 AU · Sun

P/2021 TR81 (Lemmon)

Halley-type comet

8.765 AU · Sun

P/2021 U1 (Wierzchos)

Jupiter-family comet

8.512 AU · Sun

P/2021 U3 (Attard-Maury)

Jupiter-family comet

4.192 AU · Sun

P/2021 V2 (Fuls)

Jupiter-family comet

9.054 AU · Sun

P/2022 B1 (Wierzchos)

Jupiter-family comet

5.463 AU · Sun

P/2022 BV9 (Lemmon)

Jupiter-family comet

4.358 AU · Sun

P/2022 C1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.216 AU · Sun

P/2022 C2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.049 AU · Sun

P/2022 C3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

9.656 AU · Sun

P/2022 D1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.401 AU · Sun

P/2022 L3 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.508 AU · Sun

P/2022 O2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.312 AU · Sun

P/2022 P2 (ZTF)

Jupiter-family comet

4.484 AU · Sun

P/2022 R1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.184 AU · Sun

P/2022 R4 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.837 AU · Sun

P/2022 R5 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

3.071 AU · Sun

P/2022 S1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

P/2022 W1 (Rankin)

Jupiter-family comet

6.968 AU · Sun

P/2023 B1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.051 AU · Sun

P/2023 B3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.543 AU · Sun

P/2023 JN16 (Lemmon)

Encke-type comet

2.697 AU · Sun

P/2023 M1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.857 AU · Sun

P/2023 M2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

5.563 AU · Sun

P/2023 M4 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

5.453 AU · Sun

P/2023 S1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.846 AU · Sun

P/2023 T1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.238 AU · Sun

P/2023 V2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.229 AU · Sun

P/2023 V6 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

5.348 AU · Sun

P/2023 X3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.251 AU · Sun

P/2023 Y1 (Gibbs)

Jupiter-family comet

3.748 AU · Sun

P/2023 Y2 (Gibbs)

Jupiter-family comet

3.744 AU · Sun

P/2024 F1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.444 AU · Sun

P/2024 FG9 (Nanshan-Hahn)

Jupiter-family comet

3.257 AU · Sun

P/2024 J1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.808 AU · Sun

P/2024 K1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.838 AU · Sun

P/2024 O2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

7.388 AU · Sun

P/2024 OC2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

2.626 AU · Sun

P/2024 Q1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.517 AU · Sun

P/2024 R1 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.451 AU · Sun

P/2024 R2 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

3.148 AU · Sun

P/2024 R3 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

3.197 AU · Sun

P/2024 S2 (Rankin)

Jupiter-family comet

5.021 AU · Sun

P/2024 T1 (Rankin)

Jupiter-family comet

6.607 AU · Sun

P/2024 T2 (Rankin)

Jupiter-family comet

6.176 AU · Sun

P/2024 X3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

6.994 AU · Sun

P/2025 A2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

5.086 AU · Sun

P/2025 C1 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.195 AU · Sun

P/2025 D2 (PANSTARRS)

Chiron-type comet

8.706 AU · Sun

P/2025 D3 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

3.967 AU · Sun

P/2025 D4 (ATLAS)

Jupiter-family comet

8.901 AU · Sun

P/2025 U1 (Hogan)

Jupiter-family comet

5.904 AU · Sun

P/2025 UX109 (Ye)

Jupiter-family comet

3.806 AU · Sun

P/2025 W3 (Kresken)

Encke-type comet

2.547 AU · Sun

P/2025 W4 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

2.579 AU · Sun

P/2025 Y2 (PANSTARRS)

Jupiter-family comet

4.017 AU · Sun

P/2026 C2 (PANSTARRS)

Encke-type comet

3.553 AU · Sun