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 2017

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 2017 or are otherwise newsworthy.

		Comet Encke (Mar 10, 2017)		Comet Encke (2P/Encke) orbits our Sun once every 3.3 years, which is the quickest known orbit of any comet. Meteor showers, known as the Taurids and Beta Taurids, are thought to be the remains of the dust trail left by Comet Encke. There are even theories that the Tunguska explosion in 1908 was created by a small piece of Comet Encke.

		Soho Comets (Various perihelion dates in 2017)		Dozens of tiny comets will closely orbit the Sun in 2017. 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 2017.

A List of all Comets that will reach Perihelion in 2017

All comets no matter how faint, provided they reach perihelion in 2017, 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
128P/Shoemaker-Holt 1	Comet Shoemaker-Holt 1		2017/01/10
P/2013 YG46	Comet Spacewatch		2017/01/27
P/2003 SQ215	Comet NEAT-LONEOS		2017/02/02
P/2006 G1	Comet McNaught		2017/02/03
P/2007 T6	Comet Catalina		2017/02/15
188P/LINEAR-Mueller	Comet LINEAR-Mueller		2017/02/17
219P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2017/02/20
18D/Perrine-Mrkos	Comet Perrine-Mrkos	1896/11/25	2017/02/26
93P/Lovas 1	Comet Lovas 1		2017/03/01
D/1952 B1	Comet Harrington-Wilson		2017/03/01
172P/Yeung	Comet Yeung		2017/03/13
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3	Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3		2017/03/16
182P/LONEOS	Comet LONEOS		2017/04/11
41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak	Comet Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak		2017/04/13
54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT	Comet de Vico-Swift-NEAT		2017/04/15
103P/Hartley 2	Comet Hartley 2		2017/04/20
255P/Levy	Comet Levy		2017/05/03
P/2001 F1	Comet NEAT		2017/05/05
229P/Gibbs	Comet Gibbs		2017/05/20
234P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2017/06/01
47P/Ashbrook-Jackson	Comet Ashbrook-Jackson		2017/06/10
P/1999 XN120	Comet Catalina		2017/06/12
90P/Gehrels 1	Comet Gehrels 1		2017/06/19
C/2014 B1	Comet Schwartz		2017/06/21
227P/Catalina-LINEAR	Comet Catalina-LINEAR		2017/06/22
P/2000 S1	Comet Skiff		2017/06/24
71P/Clark	Comet Clark		2017/06/30
D/1766 G1	Comet Helfenzrieder		2017/07/16
251P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2017/07/16
217P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2017/07/16
189P/NEAT	Comet NEAT		2017/08/05
P/2010 P4	Comet WISE		2017/08/18
30P/Reinmuth 1	Comet Reinmuth 1		2017/08/19
145P/Shoemaker-Levy 5	Comet Shoemaker-Levy 5		2017/08/31
P/2010 H2	Comet Vales		2017/09/14
5D/Brorsen	Comet Brorsen		2017/09/21
213P/Van Ness	Comet Van Ness		2017/09/24
263P/Gibbs	Comet Gibbs		2017/09/29
P/2004 T1	Comet LINEAR-NEAT		2017/10/13
65P/Gunn	Comet Gunn		2017/10/16
96P/Machholz 1	Comet Machholz 1		2017/10/27
183P/Korlevic-Juric	Comet Korlevic-Juric		2017/11/11
62P/Tsuchinshan 1	Comet Tsuchinshan 1		2017/11/16
24P/Schaumasse	Comet Schaumasse		2017/11/16
236P/LINEAR	Comet LINEAR		2017/11/20
14P/Wolf	Comet Wolf		2017/12/01
139P/Vaisala-Oterma	Comet Vaisala-Oterma		2017/12/10
P/2010 D1	Comet WISE		2017/12/18
P/2009 S2	Comet McNaught		2017/12/21

Related Links: