13P/Olbers

Halley-type comet February 2026 13P/Olbers Comet 13P Olbers crop2.png Comet Olbers photographed by Don Heffernan on 11 August 2024 Heinrich Olbers 6 March 1815 P/1815 E1, P/1887 Q1 P/1956 A1 1815 I, 1887 V, 1956 IV 1887f, 1956a jpldata MPC 21 November 2025 (JD 2461000.5) 210.40 yearsobs_arc 2,748 1.175 AU 32.676 AU 16.926 AU 0.93056 69.634 years 44.664° 85.846° 64.425° 7.203° 1.251 0.471 AU 0.713 AU jpldata ≤ 10 km miDiSanti_2026 6.9 6.0(2024 apparition)cobs_13p 30 June 2024Horizons2024 20 March 2094Horizons2094 13P/Olbers is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 69 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with a period between 20 and 200 years.jpldata The comet last passed perihelion 30 June 2024 and it was previously seen in 1956. The next perihelion is in 2094. It is the third of three comets discovered by German astronomer, Heinrich Olbers.comet_olbers Observational history Discovery Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers discovered the comet on 6 March 1815 and described it as small. The comet came to perihelion on 26 April 1815 and reached an apparent magnitude of about 5,kronk and was faintly visible by naked eye.Roemer_1956 Its orbit was first computed by Carl Friedrich Gauss on March 31 as parabolic, and Friedrich Bessel calculated an orbital period of 73.9 years using observations from June. Calculations by other astronomers during that era resulted anywhere between 72 and 77 years.kronk Modern solutions give an orbital period of 74.9 years for the 1815 epoch.MPC 1887 Orbital periodat different epochsCBET_5289 Epoch Orbitalperiod(years) 1887 72.37 1956 69.54 2024 69.25 2094 70.72 There were unsuccessful searches for the comet throughout 1887, until it was accidentally found by William Robert Brooks on 25 August 1887.kronk He described as an easy object to see through a 9-inch reflector, with a brightish nucleus and a faint tail; it continued to brighten for a few days after passing perihelion.Brooks_1888 The comet brightened to an apparent magnitude of about 9.Roemer_1956 On 28 July 1887 the comet passed 0.081 AU e6km unit from Mars and then passed perihelion on 8 October 1887.CBET_5289 1956 The comet was recovered on 4 January 1956 by Antonín Mrkos. The comet was then located in Eridanus and its apparent magnitude was estimated to be 16. He then found the comet in plates obtained by the McDonald Observatory on 12 November 1955.Roemer_1956 The comet passed perihelion on 19 June 1956 and reached an apparent magnitude of 6.5, while its tail was about one degree long.kronk 2024 thumb|left|Comet Olbers on 24 June 2024 The comet was recovered on 24 August 2023 by Alan Hale with the Las Cumbres Observatory at Siding Spring, and then additional pre-recovery images from August 13 were located. The comet then had an estimated apparent magnitude of about 22.CBET_5289 MPC On 16 November 2023 the comet came to opposition 139 degrees from the Sun. On 14 January 2024 the comet had an estimated magnitude of 15.3, was reported to have a strongly condensed coma measuring 0.9 arcminutes across and a faint tail one arcminute. By 10 March 2024 the comet had brightened to a magnitude of 11.4 and the coma was 4 arcminutes across. The comet was observed visually on April 12 to have a magnitude of 9.2, being a magnitude brighter than the ephemeris.CBET_5389 It came to perihelion on 30 June 2024,Horizons2024 when it was 1.18 AU e6km unit from the Sun and 1.94 AU e6km unit from Earth.Horizons2024 It was expected to brighten to about apparent magnitude 7−8 but peaked at 6–7.Yoshida-13p +Earth close approach Date Distance (AU) Solarelongation2024-Jul-20Earth2024 1.895 AU e6km unit 35°2094-Jan-09Earth2094 0.676 AU e6km unit 134° 2094 Before the 2023 recovery, while the last observation was in 1956, Kinoshita calculated that the comet would come to a future perihelion passage (closest approach to the Sun) on 22 March 2094.Kinoshita Accounting for observations in 2023–4, the nominal time of perihelion passage is now calculated to be 20 March 2094.Horizons2094 Physical characteristics Chemical composition Measurements from the SWAN instrument aboard SOHO indicated that it reached its maximum water production rate of 1.129 sec−1 on 3 June 2024,Combi_2025 and although irregular and scattered compared to 12P/Pons–Brooks, it did generally increased as it got closer to the Sun.Combi_2025 Infrared spectroscopy conducted at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) revealed abundances of H2O, OCS, C2H6, CH3OH, and H2CO, with significantly enriched amounts of CO and CH4 were reported.DiSanti_2026 Nucleus size The unusual CO enrichment in 13P/Olbers implied that its nucleus has an upper limit of about 20 – 30 km mi in radius.DiSanti_2026 However, this assumes that there's a correlation between the nucleus size and the abundance ratio of CO/H2O within the comet itself,Robinson_2024 whereas the more active periodic comets like 1P/Halley and 23P/Brorsen–Metcalf were substantially smaller.DiSanti_1991 With the water production rate of 13P is measured to be comparable to between the two aforementioned comets at 1.36 AU e6km unit from the Sun,Combi_2025 DiSanti_1991 the actual size of its nucleus is likely to be smaller, ranging from several to about 10 km mi in radius.DiSanti_2026 Meteor showers There is some speculation that 13P/Olbers has an associated annual meteor shower on Mars coming from the direction of Beta Canis Majoris.meteors The minimum orbit intersection distance of the orbits of comet Olbers and Mars is 0.0266 AU e6km unit and the meteors impact the planet with a velocity of 27 km/s. An intersection distance of less than 0.1 AU and an impact speed high enough for the meteors to become ablaze are considered good predictors for a potential meteor shower.Christou_2004 Notes "comet_olbers" Olbers had previously discovered C/1780 U1 (Montaigne–Olbers) and C/1796 F1 (Olbers) "obs_arc" Observation arc from the Minor Planet Center database only covered dates from 27 August 1887 until 31 July 2025 (137.93 years). The following figure represented its entire arc up to 6 March 1815. References W. R. Brooks The Olbers–Brooks Comet The Observatory 1888 11 90–91 1888Obs....11...90B 0029-7704 A. Hale S. Nakano T. Kobayashi D. W. Green Comet 13P/Olbers http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005200/CBET005289.txt Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams 2023-08-28 5289 1 2023CBET.5289....1H Hidetaka Sato Hirohisa Sato T. Ikemura etal D. W. Green Comet 13P/Olbers http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005300/CBET005389.txt Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams 2024-04-29 5389 1 2024CBET.5389....1S A. A. Christou Predicting Martian and Venusian Meteor Shower Activity https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s11038-005-9023-0.pdf Earth, Moon & Planets 2004 95 1–4 425–431 2004EM&P...95..425C 10.1007/s11038-005-9023-0 Observation list for 13P/Olbers https://cobs.si/obs_list?id=485 COBS – Comet OBServation database 2026-02-21 M. R. Combi T. Mäkinen J. L. Bertaux etal Activity of Halley-type Comets 12P/Pons–Brooks and 13P/Olbers from SOHO/SWAN Observations The Planetary Science Journal 2025 6 12 306–317 2025PSJ.....6..306C 10.3847/PSJ/ae2475 free 10138/626165 free M. A. DiSanti U. Fink Composition comparison between Comets P/Halley and P/Brorsen–Metcalf Icarus 1991 91 1 105–111 1991Icar...91..105D 10.1016/0019-1035(91)90130-L M. A. DiSanti M. Saki E. L. Gibb etal Surprisingly Enriched CO and CH 4 in Halley-type Comet 13P/Olbers: Clues to Its Interstellar Heritage The Planetary Science Journal 2026 7 7 165–183 2026PSJ.....7..165D 10.3847/PSJ/ae66fb free 11603/43653 free Horizons Batch for 13P/Olbers (90000226) on 2024-Jun-30 JPL Horizons Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D13P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272024-Jun-29%2023:00%27&STOP_TIME=%272024-Jun-30%2003:00%27&STEP_SIZE=%2760%27&QUANTITIES=%2719,20,23%27 https://web.archive.org/web/20220615104347/https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi?batch=1&COMMAND=%2790000226%27&START_TIME=%272024-Jun-27%27&STOP_TIME=%272024-Jul-03%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 2022-06-15 live 2023-08-28 (JPL#11 Soln.date: 2023-Aug-28) Closest Approach to Earth around 20 July 2024 Closest Earth approach occurs when deldot flips from negative to positive JPL Horizons https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D13P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272024-Jul-15%27&STOP_TIME=%272024-Jul-25%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2720,23%27 2023-08-28 Closest Approach to Earth around 9 January 2094 Closest Earth approach occurs when deldot flips from negative to positive JPL Horizons https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D13P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272094-Jan-01%27&STOP_TIME=%272094-Jan-20%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2720,23%27 2023-08-28 Horizons Batch for 13P/Olbers (90000227) for March 2094 JPL Horizons Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D13P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272094-Mar-01%27&STOP_TIME=%272094-Mar-31%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 https://web.archive.org/web/20230829130441/https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27DES%3D13P%3BCAP%27&START_TIME=%272094-Mar-01%27&STOP_TIME=%272094-Mar-31%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27 2023-08-29 live 2024-06-25 13P/Olbers – JPL Small-Body Database Lookup https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=13P ssd.jpl.nasa.gov Jet Propulsion Laboratory 2012-07-26 K. Kinoshita 13P/Olbers past, present and future orbital elements http://jcometobs.web.fc2.com/pcmtn/0013p.htm Comet Orbit 2003-02-25 2023-08-28 G. W. Kronk 13P/Olbers https://cometography.com/pcomets/013p.html Cometography.com 2001–2005 2012-02-22 Meteor Showers And Their Parent Bodies http://star.arm.ac.uk/~aac/showers.jpg star.arm.ac.uk 2006-12-30 2008-10-03 https://web.archive.org/web/20081003155932/http://star.arm.ac.uk/~aac/showers.jpg dead JPEG 13P/Olbers Orbit http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=13P Minor Planet Center 2023-08-29 J. E. Robinson U. Malamud C. Opitom etal A link between the size and composition of comets https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-pdf/531/1/859/57727493/stae881.pdf Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2024 531 1 859–883 2024MNRAS.531..859R 2403.15644 10.1093/mnras/stae881 free E. Roemer Comet Notes Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific April 1956 68 401 171–172 1956PASP...68..171R 40673045 0004-6280 10.1086/126910 free S. Yoshida 13P/Olbers http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/0013P/index.html www.aerith.net 2004-07-31 2010-02-24 External links 1000066 13P 13P/Olbers at the Minor Planet Center database 13P/Olbers at Gary W. Kronk's Cometography 13P/Olbers at Kazuo Kinoshita's Comets 13P/Olbers at Seiichi Yoshida's website 12P/Pons–Brooks 14P/Wolf Category:Periodic comets 013P 0013 013P * * * 013P