Comets in 2027

Encke has the shortest orbit of any known comet, returning to the Sun every 3.3 years, and it comes in to 0.339 AU at perihelion. Johann Franz Encke worked out in 1818 that comets seen in 1786, 1795, 1805 and 1818 were all the same object, only the second time in history a comet's return had been predicted. More about Comet Encke.

Three comets discovered by the SOHO solar observatory reach perihelion in 2027: 342P/SOHO on February 12, 321P/SOHO on August 12 and 322P/SOHO on August 24. All three pass within about 0.05 AU of the Sun, deep inside the corona, where only space telescopes can follow them. More about SOHO comets.

Discovered in 1948 and named for the three astronomers who found it independently, 45P returns every 5.3 years and passes just 0.533 AU from the Sun. It is one of the smaller Jupiter Family Comets, and it occasionally passes close enough to Earth to be followed with binoculars.

This comet orbits the Sun every 6.3 years and is the parent body of the June Bootid Meteor Shower. The dust it leaves along its orbit is what produces that shower each June. More about Comet Pons-Winnecke.

In 2005 NASA's Deep Impact mission fired a copper projectile into 9P/Tempel 1 to see what lay beneath its crust, and in 2011 Stardust returned to photograph the crater. It reaches perihelion at 1.543 AU on September 30, 2027, on a 5.6 year orbit.

The comet that shattered in 1995 keeps returning as a swarm. Thirty-five of its tracked fragments reach perihelion during 2027, from January 25 through December 29, each about 0.94 AU from the Sun. They are listed individually in the table below.