Episode 226
In this episode, we’re turning our eyes toward some of the most dynamic travelers in our solar system — comets — and looking ahead to what promises to be an exciting year in the night sky: 2026.
Each year brings a new lineup of these icy visitors, and with them, the chance for both amateur and professional observers to witness spectacular changes as they approach the Sun and develop tails of gas and dust. But which comets will stand out in 2026? Which ones might become visible to the naked eye — and which could surprise us?
To help answer those questions, I’m joined by Carl Hergenrother, Coordinator of the ALPO Comets Section and a veteran comet discoverer himself — yes, he even has one named after him, Comet 168P/Hergenrother. Carl has spent decades studying, imaging, and analyzing comets from both professional observatories and backyard telescopes.
Together, we’ll explore which comets are expected to light up the sky in 2026, how to observe them, and what role amateur astronomers can play in monitoring these fascinating objects.
So grab your star charts, check your observing gear, and get ready — we’re about to dive into “Comets of 2026” with Carl Hergenrother.
You can contact Carl at:
carlhergenrother@gmail.com
ALPO Comets Section
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/Comets
For more information you can visit the ALPO web site at:
www.alpo-astronomy.org/
You can also support this podcast at Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/ObserversNotebook
Listen to the podcast on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/observersnotebook
Subscribe on our YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AssociationofLunarandPlanetaryObservers
Subscribe on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/observers-notebook-the-alpo-podcast/id1199301885?mt=2
I want to thank the Producers of this podcast, Steve Siedentop and Michael Moyer for their generous support of the Observers Notebook.
Our Patreons:
Jerry White
Jason Inman
Bob Lunsford
Steve Seidentop
Stephen Bennett
Michael Moyer
Shawn Dilles
Damian Allis
Carl Hergenrother
Michael McShan
Michael Blake
Nick Evetts
Stan Sienkiewicz
Carl Hergenrother
Stan Sienkiewicz
John Rogers
Jim McCarthy
Stanley McMahan
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Episode 226
In this episode, we’re turning our eyes toward some of the most dynamic travelers in our solar system — comets — and looking ahead to what promises to be an exciting year in the night sky: 2026.
Each year brings a new lineup of these icy visitors, and with them, the chance for both amateur and professional observers to witness spectacular changes as they approach the Sun and develop tails of gas and dust. But which comets will stand out in 2026? Which ones might become visible to the naked eye — and which could surprise us?
To help answer those questions, I’m joined by Carl Hergenrother, Coordinator of the ALPO Comets Section and a veteran comet discoverer himself — yes, he even has one named after him, Comet 168P/Hergenrother. Carl has spent decades studying, imaging, and analyzing comets from both professional observatories and backyard telescopes.
Together, we’ll explore which comets are expected to light up the sky in 2026, how to observe them, and what role amateur astronomers can play in monitoring these fascinating objects.
So grab your star charts, check your observing gear, and get ready — we’re about to dive into “Comets of 2026” with Carl Hergenrother.
You can contact Carl at:
carlhergenrother@gmail.com
ALPO Comets Section
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/Comets
For more information you can visit the ALPO web site at:
www.alpo-astronomy.org/
You can also support this podcast at Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/ObserversNotebook
Listen to the podcast on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/observersnotebook
Subscribe on our YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AssociationofLunarandPlanetaryObservers
Subscribe on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/observers-notebook-the-alpo-podcast/id1199301885?mt=2
I want to thank the Producers of this podcast, Steve Siedentop and Michael Moyer for their generous support of the Observers Notebook.
Our Patreons:
Jerry White
Jason Inman
Bob Lunsford
Steve Seidentop
Stephen Bennett
Michael Moyer
Shawn Dilles
Damian Allis
Carl Hergenrother
Michael McShan
Michael Blake
Nick Evetts
Stan Sienkiewicz
Carl Hergenrother
Stan Sienkiewicz
John Rogers
Jim McCarthy
Stanley McMahan
Episode 207
In this episode of the Observers Notebook podcast, host Tim Robertson talks to Sam Deen, as a child, he began searching for exoplanets, but soon he was not satisfied with simply clicking on the offered images. He wanted more, to use the available data for his own scientific research. After a year, he left university studies to devote all his time to astronomy. He finds lost asteroids, comets or identifies small bodies of the Solar System overlooked by scientists, starting from new near-Earth asteroids, unknown moons of Jupiter, and ending with extremely distant trans-Neptunian objects. Self-taught, who has developed into a unique expert, the detective of the astronomical archives.
We discuss Sam’s life and experiences in Discovery of objects and contact information.
You can contact Sam at:
planetaryscience@yahoo.com
Deep Random Survey
https://deeprandomsurvey.org/
For more information you can visit the ALPO web site at:
www.alpo-astronomy.org/
You can also support this podcast at Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/ObserversNotebook
Listen to the podcast on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/observersnotebook
Subscribe on our YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AssociationofLunarandPlanetaryObservers
Subscribe on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/observers-notebook-the-alpo-podcast/id1199301885?mt=2
I want to thank the Producers of this podcast, Steve Siedentop and Michael Moyer for their generous support of the Observers Notebook.
Our Patreons:
Jerry White
Jason Inman
Bob Lunsford
Steve Seidentop
Stephen Bennett
Michael Moyer
Shawn Dilles
Frank Schenck
Damian Allis
Carl Hergenrother
Julian Parks
Michael McShan
Michael Blake
Nick Evetts
Rik Hill
Stan Sienkiewicz
John Rogers
Observers Notebook
Episode 226
In this episode, we’re turning our eyes toward some of the most dynamic travelers in our solar system — comets — and looking ahead to what promises to be an exciting year in the night sky: 2026.
Each year brings a new lineup of these icy visitors, and with them, the chance for both amateur and professional observers to witness spectacular changes as they approach the Sun and develop tails of gas and dust. But which comets will stand out in 2026? Which ones might become visible to the naked eye — and which could surprise us?
To help answer those questions, I’m joined by Carl Hergenrother, Coordinator of the ALPO Comets Section and a veteran comet discoverer himself — yes, he even has one named after him, Comet 168P/Hergenrother. Carl has spent decades studying, imaging, and analyzing comets from both professional observatories and backyard telescopes.
Together, we’ll explore which comets are expected to light up the sky in 2026, how to observe them, and what role amateur astronomers can play in monitoring these fascinating objects.
So grab your star charts, check your observing gear, and get ready — we’re about to dive into “Comets of 2026” with Carl Hergenrother.
You can contact Carl at:
carlhergenrother@gmail.com
ALPO Comets Section
https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/Comets
For more information you can visit the ALPO web site at:
www.alpo-astronomy.org/
You can also support this podcast at Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/ObserversNotebook
Listen to the podcast on Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/observersnotebook
Subscribe on our YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/AssociationofLunarandPlanetaryObservers
Subscribe on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/observers-notebook-the-alpo-podcast/id1199301885?mt=2
I want to thank the Producers of this podcast, Steve Siedentop and Michael Moyer for their generous support of the Observers Notebook.
Our Patreons:
Jerry White
Jason Inman
Bob Lunsford
Steve Seidentop
Stephen Bennett
Michael Moyer
Shawn Dilles
Damian Allis
Carl Hergenrother
Michael McShan
Michael Blake
Nick Evetts
Stan Sienkiewicz
Carl Hergenrother
Stan Sienkiewicz
John Rogers
Jim McCarthy
Stanley McMahan
