Comet Name Generator

Real comets are named after the people or surveys that find them, which is why the famous ones sound like law firms: Hale-Bopp, Shoemaker-Levy 9, Swift-Tuttle, Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The International Astronomical Union allows up to three discoverer names joined by hyphens, and robotic sky surveys get credited the same way, giving us NEOWISE, PANSTARRS, ATLAS and Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Each comet also carries a designation: C/ for a long-period comet, P/ for a periodic one, then the year, a letter for the half-month of discovery and a number, as in C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) or 1P/Halley.

Before telescopes, comets were simply the Great Comet of whatever year they appeared, or were named for whoever wrote them down, like Caesar's Comet or Kirch's Comet. Older cultures called them broom stars, hairy stars and swords of heaven, which is the register most fantasy and sci-fi worlds want: a comet that is an omen, a herald, a returning guest seen once a lifetime.

This generator mixes all of those styles. You will find plausible discoverer surnames and survey acronyms for hard science fiction, full IAU-style designations you can drop into a report or a news headline, historical Great Comets with years, and named omens such as the Pale Pilgrim or Ishara's Veil for fantasy settings. Pick the convention that matches how your world's astronomers would talk.