Naming of comets

Comets have been observed for over 2,000 years. During that time, several different systems have been used to assign names to each comet. As a result, many comets have more than one name.

The simplest system names comets after the year in which they were observed (e.g. the Great Comet of 1680). Later a convention arose of naming comets after the people who discovered them (e.g. Comet Hale–Bopp) or performed the first detailed study of that comet (e.g. Halley's Comet).

During the twentieth century, improvements in technology and dedicated searches led to a massive increase in the number of comet discoveries, which was accommodated by introducing a numeric designation scheme. The original scheme assigned a code that depended on the order comets were observed to pass through perihelion (e.g. Comet 1970 II). Continued increases in the numbers of comet discoveries made this scheme impractical, so a new system was adopted in 1994 and remains in operation. The current system assigns a code based on the type of orbit and the date of discovery (e.g. C/2012 S1).