International Comet Quarterly
Permanent Periodic-Comet Numbers
Permanent numbers in the form "nnnP", where nnn is a consecutive number assigned in the order in which a comet is found to be "periodic" or "short-period" (meaning that it has been seen to return to perihelion at least twice). This convenient, new historical numbering scheme was begun with the change in cometary designations in 1995. There is no limit to a comet's orbital period for assignment of the numbers below; the only prerequisite is that a comet is seen to return to perihelion twice (the current top record-holders in terms of length of orbital period are 35P, at around 160 yr, and 109P at around 130 yr, though comet C/2002 C1 = C/1661 C1, with period around 341 yr, is about to be numbered).
Number Name Number Name 1P Halley 77P Longmore 2P Encke 78P Gehrels 3D Biela 79P du Toit-Hartley 4P Faye 80P Peters-Hartley 5D Brorsen 81P Wild 6P d'Arrest 82P Gehrels 7P Pons-Winnecke 83P Russell 8P Tuttle 84P Giclas 9P Tempel 85P Boethin 10P Tempel 86P Wild 11P Tempel-Swift-LINEAR 87P Bus 12P Pons-Brooks 88P Howell 13P Olbers 89P Russell 14P Wolf 90P Gehrels 15P Finlay 91P Russell 16P Brooks 92P Sanguin 17P Holmes 93P Lovas 18D Perrine-Mrkos 94P Russell 19P Borrelly 95P Chiron 20D Westphal 96P Machholz 21P Giacobini-Zinner 97P Metcalf-Brewington 22P Kopff 98P Takamizawa 23P Brorsen-Metcalf 99P Kowal 24P Schaumasse 100P Hartley 25D Neujmin 101P Chernykh 26P Grigg-Skjellerup 102P Shoemaker 27P Crommelin 103P Hartley 28P Neujmin 104P Kowal 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann 105P Singer Brewster 30P Reinmuth 106P Schuster 31P Schwassmann-Wachmann 107P Wilson-Harrington 32P Comas Sola 108P Ciffreo 33P Daniel 109P Swift-Tuttle 34D Gale 110P Hartley 35P Herschel-Rigollet 111P Helin-Roman-Crockett 36P Whipple 112P Urata-Niijima 37P Forbes 113P Spitaler 38P Stephan-Oterma 114P Wiseman-Skiff 39P Oterma 115P Maury 40P Vaisala 116P Wild 41P Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 117P Helin-Roman-Alu 42P Neujmin 118P Shoemaker-Levy 43P Wolf-Harrington 119P Parker-Hartley 44P Reinmuth 120P Mueller 45P Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 121P Shoemaker-Holt 46P Wirtanen 122P de Vico 47P Ashbrook-Jackson 123P West-Hartley 48P Johnson 124P Mrkos 49P Arend-Rigaux 125P Spacewatch 50P Arend 126P IRAS 51P Harrington 127P Holt-Olmstead 52P Harrington-Abell 128P Shoemaker-Holt 53P Van Biesbroeck 129P Shoemaker-Levy 54P de Vico-Swift 130P McNaught-Hughes 55P Tempel-Tuttle 131P Mueller 56P Slaughter-Burnham 132P Helin-Roman-Alu 57P du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte 133P Elst-Pizarro 58P Jackson-Neujmin 134P Kowal-Vavrova 59P Kearns-Kwee 135P Shoemaker-Levy 60P Tsuchinshan 136P Mueller 61P Shajn-Schaldach 137P Shoemaker-Levy 62P Tsuchinshan 138P Shoemaker-Levy 63P Wild 139P Vaisala-Oterma 64P Swift-Gehrels 140P Bowell-Skiff 65P Gunn 141P Machholz 66P du Toit 142P Ge-Wang 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko 143P Kowal-Mrkos 68P Klemola 144P Kushida 69P Taylor 145P Shoemaker-Levy 70P Kojima 146P Shoemaker-LINEAR 71P Clark 147P Kushida-Muramatsu 72P Denning-Fujikawa 148P Anderson-LINEAR 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann 149P Mueller 74P Smirnova-Chernykh 150P LONEOS 75P Kohoutek 151P Helin 76P West-Kohoutek-Ikemura 152P Helin-Lawrence
This list was last updated on 2002 May 24.
