The brighter comets of 2006
2015 November 18
During the year 62 comets were assigned year designations and 16 previously numbered periodic comets returned to perihelion. 170 comets were discovered from the SOHO satellite; of these 154 were members of the Kreutz group, eight were members of the Meyer group, two of the Marsden group and six were not associated with any known group. There were two amateur discoveries, those of 2006 OF2 by John Broughton and 2006 T1 by David Levy, for which they gained the Edgar Wilson Award. Nine periodic comets were numbered. Four comets were reported as visible by the naked eye during the year.
Orbital elements for all the comets discovered and returning during the year can be found on the JPL Small-Body Database Browser, which will also generate ephemerides. Discovery details and some information for the other comets found or returning during the year are available on the Comet Section web pages, which also contain links to additional background information. Further images of the comets are presented in the Section image archive.
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