The Interstellar Comet

[theskyhound]

Are the observable comet files being updated again or does SkyTools pick this up from somewhere else as the current last comet there is J2.

Owen

It was my understanding that the Observable Comets database was being updated with new comets (I saw several of these last month), but many of the orbits have epochs from May, which has not been a big problem but we are far enough away that it is going to be soon. Looking at it right now, I see 2019 N1 as the most recent comet, so it looks like maybe they are updating it irregularly? The whole thing is a mystery to me. According to several people who have asked directly, the MPC has not been very forthcoming about why this is still a problem and when it will be fixed. It's never even been listed officially as a problem with their service. One gets the impression, true or not, that they are paid to do NEOs and comets are something they only reluctantly do when they have the time.