Comet 220P McNaught puts on an encore performance

Comet 220P/McNaught has been observed to exhibit significant outbursts in recent months, with its brightness increasing by 8,000-fold in early June and 7 magnitudes in early August. The comet, which was first discovered in 2004, is a Jupiter-family comet with a 5.5-year orbit. It is currently in the dawn sky and is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on October 12, 2026, at a distance of 1.043 AU. The comet's activity has been noted by astrophotographer Dan Bartlett, who has captured its progression through the summer. The comet's brightness fluctuates, with its coma expanding and contracting over the nights, and it has a faint dust tail that becomes visible in the early days of the outburst and disappears after August 10. The comet is expected to be visible in the southern sky during late August, and its final act in 2026 may be yet to come.

• Comet 220P/McNaught reached a peak magnitude of +8 in June and remains at +9 in late August.
• It is a Jupiter-family comet with a 5.5-year orbit and is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on October 12, 2026.
• The comet's activity has been observed, with outbursts that have increased its brightness by 8,000-fold in early June and 7 magnitudes in early August.
• The comet is visible in the southern sky during late August and is expected to be a target for smartscopes like the SeeStar or Dwarf Mini.

Comet 220P/McNaught is part of a series of active comets being observed in 2026, including Comet 10P Tempel. The comet's path through the sky in the last half of 2026 is through the constellation Cetus, and it will loop in and out of the Circlet of Pisces asterism, circling the magnitude +2.5 star Alpha Ceti (Menkar). The comet is expected to be high to the south for Northern Hemisphere observers in the predawn hours through August, September, and October. The comet's brightness is spread out, similar to a deep-sky object, and it is considered interesting to visual observers and backyard imagers when it breaks magnitude +10. The comet's aphelion is expected to occur on March 12, 2029, and it will be seen again on its next perihelion apparition in late 2031. The comet's activity suggests that it may have a "mind of its own" when it comes to outbursts and changes in brightness.

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