You can now buy the recently released book, Fall of a Thousand Suns: How Near Misses and Comet Impacts affected the Religious Beliefs of our Ancestors. It is available through iBooks and Amazon.

This website only lists information on modern-day comets and meteor showers. The book, however, thoroughly investigates how specific ancient impacts and near misses changed religious beliefs around the world.

Comets in 2016

Between one hundred billion and two trillion comets are thought to exist in our solar system. As of September 23, 2026, 4,077 comets have been observed and named. Let's take a closer look at some comets that may be visible to the naked eye in 2016 or are otherwise newsworthy.

Soho Comets

(Various perihelion dates in 2016)

Dozens of tiny comets will closely orbit the Sun in 2016. The vast majority will die in its corona or on its surface. Only space observatories using coronagraphs, like SOHO, will be able to observe these comets. The general public has access to SOHO's movies and images, and can attempt to discover comets in 2016.

A List of all Comets that will reach Perihelion in 2016

All comets no matter how faint, provided they reach perihelion in 2016, are listed below alongside the day of discovery, next perihelion, orbital period, diameter and apparent magnitude. Each column is sortable. Simply click on the arrows at the top of each column.

Formal Name	Informal Name	Discovery	Next Perihelion	Orbit (yrs)	Diameter
116P/Wild 4	Comet Wild 4		2016/01/11
211P/Arend	Comet Hill		2016/01/27
50P/Arend	Comet Arend	1951/10/04	2016/02/08	8.27	1.9 km
P/2010 V1	Comet Ikeya-Murakami		2016/02/26
147P/Kushida-Murakami	Comet Kushida-Murakami		2016/02/27
194P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2016/03/02
P/2003 T12	Comet SOHO		2016/03/09
252P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2016/03/15
127P/Holt-Olmstead	Comet Holt-Olmstead		2016/03/17
D/1918 W1	Comet Kowal 2		2016/03/26
50P/Schorr	Comet Schorr		2016/03/28
100P/Hartley 1	Comet Hartley 1	1985/06/13	2016/04/02	6.31
102P/Shoemaker 1	Comet Shoemaker 1	1984/09/27	2016/04/20		3.2 km
C/2007 VA85	Comet 2007 VA85	2007/07/28	2016/04/04
190P/Mueller	Comet Mueller		2016/04/07
C/2013 X1	Comet PanSTARRS		2016/04/19
53P/Van Biesbroeck	Comet Van Biesbroeck	1954/09/01	2016/04/29	12.53	6.66 km
77P/Longmore	Comet Longmore	1975/06/10	2016/05/13	6.83	8.2 km
C/2012 U68	Comet 2012 U68		2016/05/21
224P/LINEAR-NEAT	Comet LINEAR-NEAT		2016/05/24
C/2011 KP36	Comet Spacewatch		2016/05/26
P/2007 R3	Comet Gibbs		2016/05/27
216P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2016/05/30
136P/Mueller 3	Comet Mueller 3		2016/05/31
157P/Tritton	Comet Tritton		2016/06/10
202P/Scotti	Comet Scotti		2016/06/11
P/2011 A2	Comet Scotti		2016/06/14
118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4	Comet Shoemaker-Levy 4		2016/06/16
146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR	Comet Shoemaker-LINEAR		2016/06/30
207P/Arend	Comet NEAT		2016/07/01
208P/Arend	Comet McMillan		2016/07/01
P/2000 O3	Comet SOHO		2016/07/01
P/2010 N1	Comet WISE		2016/07/13
279P/La Sagra	Comet La Sagra		2016/07/14
56P/Slaughter-Burnham	Comet Slaughter-Burnham	1959/01/27	2016/07/18	11.54	3.12 km
81P/Wild 2	Comet Wild 2	1978/01/06	2016/07/20	6.41	4.0 km
P/2009 K1	Comet Gibbs		2016/07/24
150P/LONEOS	Comet LONEOS		2016/07/24
9P/Tempel 1	Comet Tempel 1		2016/08/02
225P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2016/08/16
43P/Wolf-Harrington	Comet Wolf-Harrington	1924/12/22	2016/08/19	6.14	3.66 km
33P/Daniel	Comet Daniel	1909/12/07	2016/08/22	8.06	2.6 km
144P/Kushida	Comet Kushida		2016/08/30
P/1999 V1	Comet Catalina		2016/08/31
226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski	Comet Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski		2016/09/05
212P/NEAT	Comet NEAT		2016/09/10
2008 HW1	Comet 2008 HW1		2016/10/05
P/1997 G1	Comet Montani		2016/10/09
237P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2016/10/11
238P/Read	Comet Read		2016/10/22
94P/Russell 4	Comet Russell 4	1984/03/07	2016/10/27	6.6	5.2 km
P/2005 S3	Comet Read		2016/11/01
D/1978 R1	Comet Haneda-Campos		2016/11/11
P/2008 T1	Comet Boattini		2016/11/18
P/2008 J3	Comet McNaught		2016/11/22
P/2004 VR8	Comet LONEOS		2016/12/07
89P/Russell 2	Comet Russell 2		2016/12/14
45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova	Comet Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova	1948/12/03	2016/12/31	5.25	1.6 km

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