24P/Schaumasse

Comet Schaumasse is a periodic comet discovered by Alexandre Schaumasse (Nice, France) on 1 December 1911 as 12th magnitude. It next comes to perihelion on 8 January 2026 and should brighten to about magnitude 9.

Observations
By the end of 1912 it was recognised as a short period comet estimated to return in 7.1 years, later recalculated as 8 years. The 1919 return was recovered by Gaston Fayet (Paris, France) as magnitude 10.5.

The 1927 approach was magnitude 12, but the comet was missed on the 1935 approach. In 1937 it passed close to Jupiter which increased its orbital period slightly. During the 1951-1952 apparition, the comet was brighter than expected, reaching a magnitude of about 6 in February.

The comet was missed in 1968 and 1976. It was speculated that the increase in brightness in 1952 indicated a problem that led to it vanishing. The comet during the 1984 apparition was recovered by James B. Gibson (Palomar Observatory, California, USA). Also in 1984 was reported that Elizabeth Roemer (Steward Observatory, Arizona, USA) had found a comet on a photograph from 27 December 1976. Orbital calculations by Brian G. Marsden, confirmed the 1976 image featured Comet Schaumasse.

The comet was not observed during the 2009 unfavorable apparition since the perihelion passage occurred when the comet was on the far side of the Sun. It passed within 0.025 AU of the dwarf planet Ceres on 22 March 2010. During the 2017 apparition the comet reached a magnitude of 10. It was last observed on 19 June 2018 when it was 2.7 AU from the Sun.

Around 3 October 2100 it should pass about 0.27 AU from Mars.

The comet nucleus is estimated to be 2.6 kilometers in diameter.