Comets in 2013

comet discovered in 2012, with a close approach to Earth in December 2013

periodic comet

non-periodic comet

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center; font-size:11px; float:right; margin:2px" |- bgcolor= style="font-size: smaller;" | colspan="8" style="text-align:center;"|Perihelion distanceat different epochs |- ! Epoch !! Perihelion(AU) |- | 1967 || 1.61 |- | 1974 || 1.26 |- | 1986 || 1.08 |- | 2013 || 1.05 |- | 2035 || 1.08 |- | 2046 || 1.22 |- | 2059 || 1.98 |- | 2095 || 2.01 |}

comet

Comet Grigg–Skjellerup (formally designated 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup) is a periodic comet. It was visited by the Giotto probe in July 1992. The spacecraft came as close as 200 km, but could not take pictures because some instruments were damaged from its encounter with Halley's Comet. The comet last came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 25 December 2023, but was 1.8 AU from Earth and only 31 degrees from the Sun.

311P/PanSTARRS, also known as P/2013 P5 (PanSTARRS), is an active asteroid and Encke-type comet discovered by Bryce T. Bolin using the Pan-STARRS telescope on 27 August 2013. Observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that it had six comet-like tails. The tails are suspected to be streams of material ejected by the asteroid as a result of a rubble pile asteroid spinning fast enough to remove material from it. This is similar to 331P/Gibbs, which was found to be a quickly-spinning rubble pile as well.

long-period comet

111P/Helin–Roman–Crockett is an Encke-type comet with an 8.46-year orbit around the Sun. It was co-discovered by Eleanor and Ron Helin, Brian P. Roman and Randy L. Crockett on 5 January 1989 from images obtained about 1-2 days prior.

63P/Wild is a periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 13.21 years. It will next come to perihelion on 6 July 2026.

87P/Bus is an Encke-type comet with a current orbital period of 6.37 years around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by Australian astronomer, Schelte J. Bus.

comet

76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura is a Jupiter-family periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 6.47 years.

125P/Spacewatch is a Jupiter-family comet with a 5.53-year orbit around the Sun. It was discovered on 8 September 1991 by Tom Gehrels using the 0.91 m Spacewatch telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. It was the first comet discovered with the use of a CCD, and also the faintest comet upon discovery up to that point. Its nucleus has a diameter of .

121P/Shoemaker–Holt, also known as Shoemaker-Holt 2, is a periodic comet in the Solar System with an orbital period of about 8 years. The comet was discovered by Carolyn S. Shoemaker, Eugene M. Shoemaker, and Henry E. Holt on 9 March 1989. The comet then had an apparent magnitude of 13, was diffuse and had a tail about 2 arcminutes long. It was recovered by James V. Scotti on 29 August 1995 in images obtained as part of the Spacewatch survey.

Comet Urata-Niijima is a periodic comet in the Solar System discovered by Japanese astronomers Tsuneo Niijima and Takeshi Urata on October 30, 1986, at Ojima. The first orbit was calculated by Brian G. Marsden on November 5 giving an orbital period of 6.42 years.

84P/Giclas is a Jupiter-family comet with a 6.69-year orbit around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by American astronomer, Henry L. Giclas.

Oort cloud comet

98P/Takamizawa is a periodic comet in the Solar System.

114P/Wiseman–Skiff is a Jupiter-family comet with a 6.67-year orbit around the Sun. It is the only comet discovered by Jennifer Wiseman and one of several by Brian A. Skiff.

102P/Shoemaker, also known as Shoemaker 1, is a Jupiter-family comet with a 7.47-year orbit around the Sun. It was first seen in 1984, and then again in 1991. Images taken of it in 1999 were not recognized until 2006 when it was once again observed. It was unexpectedly dim in each of these returns.

periodic comet

91P/Russell, also known as Russell 3, is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It was discovered by Kenneth S. Russell in 1983.

120P/Mueller, also known as Mueller 1, is a Jupiter-family comet with an 8.4-year orbit around the Sun. It is one of 15 comets discovered by American astronomer, Jean Mueller.

276P/Vorobjov (previously P/2012 T7 (Vorobjov)) is a Jupiter-family comet discovered on 15 October 2012 by Tomáš Vorobjov on three 120-s images taken remotely using the 0.81-m f/7 Ritchey-Chretien Schulman Telescope located at the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter via the Sierra Stars Observatory Network in the course of a minor-planet search survey undertaken as part of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) school campaigns. After posting on the Minor Planet Center's NEOCP webpage, other observers have commented on the object's cometary appearance. The discovery was announced by the M

oort cloud comet

Solar System comet

246P/NEAT is a periodic comet discovered on 2004 March 28 by Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) using the reflector at Haleakala. It was given the permanent number 246P on 14 January 2011.

comet

266P/Christensen is a Encke-type comet with a 6.63-year orbit around the Sun. It will next come to perihelion in December 2026. It has been suggested as the possible source of the 1977 "Wow! Signal", however this was later disproven by a follow-up study in 2020, where it was found out to be likely a maser-like flare from small hydrogen clouds in interstellar space instead.

disintegrated active main-belt asteroid

259P/Garradd is a Jupiter-family comet and active asteroid with an orbital period of 4.5 years. It was discovered in images obtained on 2 September 2008 as part of the Siding Spring Survey by Gordon J. Garradd.