If you want to hunt for comets, you will be interested in past comet discoveries. This was the case for me and so I created the Catalogue of Comet Discoveries. The main idea of the catalogue came from Michael Rudenkos Catalogue of Cometary Discovery Positions. I converted the catalogue from the printed version into an electronic version... quite a piece of work. I extended the format and corrected some mistakes.
Following is an excerpt of this catalogue. The first entry in the catalogue is the apparition of 1P/Halley of 239 B.C. Please remember that the full version is also under permanent construction. If you use the catalogue in any form, be sure to quote the correct source. Here is the catalogue info, which must always be given away with any data of the catalogue.
P/1990 B1 1990 01 21.983 09 37.4 +20 26 161M P 40D 13.5 CHE 026 4950 116P/Wild C/1990 E1 1990 03 14.79 00 57.0 +43 22 49E V 12R35 5 2 9 LTU 570 A 4980 x Cernis-Kiuchi-Nakamura 1990 03 16.441 V 15B25 JPN A 1990 03 16.441 V 12B20 JPN A C/1990 K1 1990 05 20.44 23 57.0 +27 49 53M V 40L 5 2 9.5 USA A 5017 Levy C/1990 M1 1990 06 19.554 17 43.8 -65 32 138E P124D 2 0.1 17 AUS 413 5036 McNaught-Hughes C/1990 N1 1990 07 13.522 12 34.2 +30 57 67E P A 4 8 8.5 JPN 396 A 5052 Tsuchiya-Kiuchi 1990 07 16.506 12 27.3 +39 44 64E V 15B25 JPN A P/1990 R1 1990 09 15.347 00 47.3 +12 50 155M P122D 3 17 USA 675 5091 131P/Mueller P/1990 R2 1990 09 14.350 01 41.8 +07 53 145M P 46D 2 17.5 USA 675 5093 127P/Holt-Olmstead P/1990 UL3 1990 09 17.435 01 47.7 +17 50 143M P 46D 2 17.5 USA 675 5138 137P/Shoemaker-Levy P/1990 S1 1990 09 24.358 01 38.8 -02 13 156M P122D 3 18 USA 675 5102 136P/Mueller P/1990 V1 1990 11 15.290 01 51.4 -00 11 151E P 46D 2 12.5 USA 675 5135 Shoemaker-Levy
An explanation of the format of the catalogue is given in the catalog.txt.
Based on the catalogue I have prepared a statistic about the number of comets which have been credited to the discoverers. Only official namings are included. It is possible that I will extend this statistic soon.
accesses since Oct. 10, 1999.
Copyright © 1997 - 2002 Maik Meyer
If you have any questions, please email me (maik@comethunter.de).