Comet Pons–Brooks is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years. Comets with an orbital period of 20–200 years are referred to as Halley-type comets. It is one of the brightest known periodic comets, reaching an absolute visual magnitude of about 5 in its approach to perihelion. Comet Pons–Brooks was conclusively discovered at Marseilles Observatory in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons, and on its next appearance in 1883 by William Robert Brooks. However it has been confirmed 12P/Pons–Brooks was observed before the 19th century.

The last perihelion passage was 21 April 2024,

Outbursts were also observed on 14 December

and 18 January 2024.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size: 0.9em;"

|+Outbursts during 2023

! Date

! Start<br/>mag

! Outburst<br/>mag

! Brightening

! Sun distance<br/>(AU)

! Solar<br/>elongation

|-

| 2023-07-20 || 16 || 11 || 100× || 3.9 || 101°

|-

| 2023-10-05 || 15 || 11 || 40× || 3.1 || 80°

|}

By mid February the comet had brightened to magnitude 7.5 and had developed an ion tail about two degrees long that featured jets and filaments. A minor outburst took place on 29 February, with the comet brightening by 0.9 magnitudes. By 7 March the comet had brightened to magnitude 5.5 and was located about 10 degrees from the Andromeda Galaxy. In the following days the comet was reported to be visible by naked eye and featured a tail about 5 degrees long. Another outburst occurred on April 3, with the comet brightening to a magnitude of about 3.8. There was a solar eclipse on 8 April 2024 with the comet 25 degrees from the Sun.

Bibliography

;Astronomy Pictures of the Day