James V. Scotti are subject to non-gravitational forces due to outgassing and solar wind, it is often a challenge to predict their exact position and rediscover them each time they make a new perihelion approach). He confirmed the discovery of the well known Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which impacted Jupiter in July 1994. He has also discovered the periodic comets 202P/Scotti, 244P/Scotti, P/2003 L1 (Scotti), P/2010 C1 (Scotti), P/2010 H4 (Scotti), P/2010 H5 (Scotti), P/2011 A2 (Scotti); the later seven are not yet numbered as they have only been seen at one perihelion passage. He has also discovered non-periodic comets C/2010 E5 (Scotti) and
Naming of comets the past, when multiple comets were discovered by the same individual, group of individuals, or team, the comets' names were distinguished by adding a numeral to the discoverers' names (but only for periodic comets); thus Comets Shoemaker–Levy 1 to 9 (discovered by Carolyn Shoemaker, Eugene Shoemaker & David Levy). Today, the large numbers of comets discovered by some instruments makes this system impractical, and no attempt is made to ensure that each comet is given a unique name. Instead, the comets' systematic designations are used to avoid confusion. Until 1994, comets were first given a provisional designation consisting of the