A short-period comet that goes round the Sun every 5.3 years, at perihelion about May 2028
Returns in May 2028. First in reach from Georgetown about 3 to 23 June 2028, with a camera.
Returns in May 2028. First in reach from Georgetown about 3 to 23 June 2028, with a camera.
Tonight from Georgetown it is highest at 6:50 pm GYT, 37 degrees up in the south-west (a third of the way up). When the sky turns fully dark at 6:50 pm it stands 37 degrees up in the south-west. It sinks below 20 degrees at 8:51 pm. It is at least 10 degrees up for 3 hours of darkness.
At about magnitude 24.6 (forecast) it reads 24.8 through the air at that height. From Georgetown's sky, where the faintest star overhead is about magnitude 4.3, a comet has to read 3.3 for the naked eye, 6.8 for binoculars, 8.4 for a small telescope and 12.1 for a camera. So it is out of reach tonight.
From Lethem, under a dark interior sky: Returns in May 2028. First in reach from Lethem about 13 June to 6 July 2028, with a camera.
Face south-west (azimuth 205 degrees) at 6:50 pm GYT and look a third of the way up, 37 degrees above the horizon. A fist held at arm's length covers about 10 degrees.
A comet's gas tail points away from the Sun: at that minute the anti-Sun direction leans 57 degrees to the left of straight up. It is 79 degrees from the Sun in the sky and 99 degrees from the Moon, which is 3% lit.
Against the stars it moves about 8 arcseconds an hour, so it is in the same field of view all night and a little further along the next night.
A window is a run of nights on which it is at least 10 degrees up with the Sun at least 12 degrees down and its forecast brightness reaches a camera or better from Georgetown. The forecast is an early estimate from a catalogue law.
From 8 December 2026 to 12 February 2027 it is hidden in the Sun's glare from Georgetown: 67 nights.
From 9 December 2027 to 6 March 2028 it is hidden in the Sun's glare from Georgetown: 89 nights.
| In reach | Best night | Best time | Height and direction | Gear on the best night | Forecast magnitude | Nights at each rung |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 23 June 2028 | 15 June 2028 | 10:13 pm GYT | 24 degrees, north | Camera | about 11.0 (likely 7.7 to 14.3) | 20 camera |
Nobody has reported its brightness to COBS in the last 30 days, so every number here is a forecast.
No one has followed this comet through a return like this one, so the forecast is a catalogue estimate with a wide range.
On its best night from Georgetown, 15 June 2028, it could be about 11.0 (likely 7.7 to 14.3), reading 11.4 through the air. Chance of the naked eye: about 1%. Binoculars: about 8%. A small telescope: about 18%. The range is one standard deviation either side: about two forecasts in three land inside it.
Catalogue estimates, shown as a cross-check and never as how bright it will look: JPL's law gives 23.7 tonight and the Minor Planet Center's gives 25.4. Catalogue laws missed this season's measured comets by 2 to 4.5 magnitudes.
A comet's light is spread over a fuzzy patch, so it is harder to see than a star of the same magnitude. That is why the gear rungs ask for a magnitude in hand.
Plan for 15 June 2028: aim at azimuth 0 degrees, altitude 24 degrees, at 10:13 pm GYT.
On a fixed tripod keep each exposure short enough that the stars stay round, then stack many frames. For a long stack, align on the comet as well as on the stars: it drifts against them from frame to frame. A dark site adds more than any lens.
96P/Machholz passes closest to the Sun (perihelion) about 12 May 2028, at 0.116 au, where 1 au is the Earth's distance from the Sun. One orbit takes 5.28 years. The orbit is tilted 57.5 degrees to the Earth's and its eccentricity is 0.9617 (0 is a circle, 1 an open curve).
Tonight it is 5.34 au from the Sun and 5.43 au from Earth, still approaching the Sun.
Orbit: NASA/JPL Horizons osculating elements, solution JPL#K233/8, retrieved 8 October 2026. Positions on this page are computed from them in your browser and agree with JPL's own tables to half an arcminute.
A comet that passes very close to the Sun every 5.3 years, where only solar observatories in space can see it. It is the likely parent of the Southern Delta Aquariid meteors.
96P/Machholz is a short-period comet that goes round the Sun every 5.3 years. The "P" in 96P marks a periodic comet, and the number is the order in which its return was first confirmed.
Its dust is the source of the Southern Delta Aquariids meteors: each year the Earth crosses the trail it has left along its orbit.
Brightest eye estimate reported to COBS on each past return: 2012: magnitude 6.9, 9 days after perihelion, 0.39 au from the Sun and 0.95 au from Earth; 2017: magnitude 11.5, 16 days before perihelion, 0.57 au from the Sun and 0.94 au from Earth; 2023: magnitude 7.7, 7 days after perihelion, 0.33 au from the Sun and 1.06 au from Earth. How bright a return looks depends as much on how near the Earth it passes as on the comet.
Orbits: NASA/JPL Horizons (Giorgini, JD and the JPL Solar System Dynamics Group), data retrieved 2026-10-08.
Catalogue brightness laws: JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Observed brightness: COBS Comet Observation Database (https://cobs.si) and its contributing observers, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Data updated 8 October 2026. "Early forecast" means: A catalogue estimate. Early predictions are often wrong in both directions.
Gear rungs and ranges are estimates for a typical observer: your eyes, your sky and the night will differ.