The Catalogue of Comet Discoveries

I obtained a sketch of comet C/1874 H1 (Coggia) by Carl Christian Bruhns (1830 - 1881), discoverer of 5 comets.
Look here for more details!

The 2002 edition of the Catalogue is available for free download! Please visit the Download Page for more information!

Due to some book projects I will stop publishing updates of the Catalogue until further notice. Please note that the online version contains some errors. However, up-to-date (in progress) versions can be requested via e-mail.

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

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If you have any questions, please email me (maik@comethunter.de).