Comet Pons–Brooks
A 71-year comet that returned in 2024 with repeated outbursts, giving it horn-like shapes and the nickname 'devil comet'.
Key facts
- Designation
- 12P/Pons–Brooks
- Type
- Halley-type comet
- Orbital period
- about 71 years
- Closest to the Sun
- 0.78 AU (about 117 million km)
- Farthest from the Sun
- about 34 AU
- Tilt of orbit
- about 74°
- Nucleus
- uncertain; probably several kilometres to perhaps 30 km across
- Discovered
- by Jean-Louis Pons at Marseille on 12 July 1812; rediscovered by William Brooks in New York State on 2 September 1883
- Returns
- passed perihelion on 21 April 2024; next around 2095
Orbit
Pons–Brooks is a Halley-type comet, with a period of 71 years and an orbit reaching out to about Neptune's distance. It passed the Sun on 21 April 2024 and was closest to Earth at about 230 million km in June.
Size and nature
The comet is known for outbursts: sudden eruptions of gas and dust that brighten it many times over in a few hours. Between mid-2023 and April 2024 more than a dozen were recorded. During some, the expanding cloud was partly shadowed by the nucleus, giving the coma two horn-like points. Estimates of the nucleus size vary because it has always been active when measured.
History
Jean-Louis Pons found it in 1812. William Brooks, a prolific American comet hunter, found it again in 1883 and it was shown to be the same comet. It was also seen in 1953–54. Records suggest earlier passes in 1385 and 1457. In 2024 it reached about magnitude 4, visible to the naked eye from dark sites in the evening twilight.
Meteor showers
The faint December Kappa Draconids have been suggested as dust from this comet, but the link is not proven.
Its meteor showers
- The December Kappa Draconids peak around 2–3 December; about very low (detected mainly by video) an hour at best; about 45 km/s
Key dates
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 12 July 1812 | Jean-Louis Pons discovered the comet now called Pons–Brooks. |
| 2 September 1883 | William Brooks rediscovered Comet Pons–Brooks. |
| 21 April 2024 | Comet Pons–Brooks passed closest to the Sun. |
Did you know?
Pons–Brooks was near the Sun in the same month as the total solar eclipse of April 2024, and some eclipse watchers looked for it.
Its outbursts happened even when it was beyond Jupiter's orbit.
Its next return will be in about 2095.