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Comet Cross-Identification
The majority of the information in this cross-index was compiled from electronic editions of the Catalog of Cometary Orbits, produced by Brian G. Marsden and Gareth V. Williams of the Minor Planet Center (MPC).It is updated regularly as new information becomes available.
The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and the MPC, the organizations responsible for assigning new designations, also maintain a cross-reference utility for comet designations.
Enter a comet name or designation (Comet Designation Formats).The name or designation will be matched against a cross-index of comets. All apparitions are listed when a name or periodic comet number is given. Additional apparitions are also returned when the given designation refers to a periodic comet.
Spaces are not significant; case is significant in designations, but not proper names.
In the resulting display, Perihelion Date (on the far right) indicates the time of perihelion passage for that particular apparition. Periodic comets will be listed once for each recorded apparition. The list returned is sorted in order of ascending Perihelion Date.
What are the Comet Designation Formats?
