Discovered on 3 November 2015 by Jess Johnson of the Catalina Sky Survey, C/2015 V2 (Johnson) is a hyperbolic comet. Expected to reach Perihelion in June 2017, the comet will be well placed for northern hemisphere observers in the months leading up to this. The comet is a morning object at the beginning of the year residing at the top of Bootes then by mid-February moves in to Hercules becoming a late evening object visible for the rest of the night doing so until the end of May. From mid-April until month’s end, the comet will reside in the same area of sky as Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. In May, the comet should reach magnitude 6 which is well within binocular viewing brightness before it plummets south becoming unobservable to northern sky observers by July. Southern observers will be able to continue observing the object until the end of 2017.
C/2015 V2 Finder Charts
01 January – 31 May 2017
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31 May – 31 July 2017
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