Tags: Planet.
On January 30 and January 31 1997 Takao Kobayashi observed an object P/1997 B1 (Kobayashi) which was initially thought to be a minor planet and was reported to the IAU as such by S. Nakano. Over the next few days the object was observed to be in a cometary orbit. W. Offutt later showed it to be a comet.This is the first amateur CCD discovery of a comet and is also the faintest amateur discovery.