We have some comets to report for this season. It has been a long hiatus for comets during these last few years, but Comet C/2016 M1 (PanSTARRS)will be peaking close to 9.0 Magnitude by 1 July prior to its’ time of perihelion passage which will take place on 9 – 11 August 2018 at a distance of 2.2107 AU placing it within the Asteroid Belt. 66P/Du Toit is another potential although it is low in the southern skies and best observable before sunrise around nautical twilight. Comet 37P/Forbes will passing within 17 to 18 arcminutes of the Planet Neptune close to 13th Magnitude while the planet will be at visual magnitude 7.8 on the morning hours of 13 – 14 June between 5 – 5:30 am CDT. A Chart and ephemeris data for the comet is available during a two day period at 1 hour increments and due to the slow motion of Neptune I have the ephemeris data on its position J2000 Epoch every 4 hours with the exception of two times at 8 PM & 11 PM the night of 14 June.

Download the report and enjoy!

Professor Comet

Justin McCollum