Comet 116P/Wild 4

Comet 116P/Wild 4 is currently in the constellation of Taurus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 116P/Wild 4 is 03h 38m 43s and the Declination is +22° 45’ 06” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 116P/Wild 4 is 20.78 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 116P/Wild 4 [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:

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Additional information about Comet 116P/Wild 4 available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 116P/Wild 4?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 116P/Wild 4 from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 116P/Wild 4 rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 116P/Wild 4?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 116P/Wild 4 orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 116P/Wild 4 with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 116P/Wild 4 for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 116P/Wild 4 in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 116P/Wild 4 with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 116P/Wild 4 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 116P/Wild 4?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 116P/Wild 4 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 116P/Wild 4 Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 116P/Wild 4 from Earth is currently 494,651,155 kilometers, equivalent to 3.306539 Astronomical Units. Light takes 27 minutes and 29.9786 seconds to travel from Comet 116P/Wild 4 and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 116P/Wild 4 from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 116P/Wild 4 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 116P/Wild 4 to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 116P/Wild 4 to Earth happens on Tue May 22 2085 at a distance of 0.760953 Astronomical Units, or 113,836,967 kilometers:

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Comet 116P/Wild 4 brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 116P/Wild 4 is 20.78.

The observed magnitude and coma diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of comets. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated Magnitude as a directional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 116P/Wild 4, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Comet 116P/Wild 4 rise and set times

Today's Comet 116P/Wild 4 rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 116P/Wild 4 touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.

Visualization of Comet 116P/Wild 4 Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 116P/Wild 4 with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 116P/Wild 4 and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Comet 116P/Wild 4 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 116P/Wild 4 computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 116P/Wild 4 in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 Jan 21	03h 38m 39s	+22° 48’ 33”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 22	03h 38m 35s	+22° 47’ 53”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 23	03h 38m 34s	+22° 47’ 17”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 24	03h 38m 33s	+22° 46’ 45”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 25	03h 38m 33s	+22° 46’ 15”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 26	03h 38m 35s	+22° 45’ 51”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 27	03h 38m 38s	+22° 45’ 29”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 28	03h 38m 42s	+22° 45’ 12”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 29	03h 38m 47s	+22° 44’ 58”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 30	03h 38m 53s	+22° 44’ 48”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Jan 31	03h 39m 01s	+22° 44’ 43”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Feb 01	03h 39m 08s	+22° 44’ 40”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Feb 02	03h 39m 19s	+22° 44’ 43”	20.78	Taurus
2021 Feb 03	03h 39m 29s	+22° 44’ 48”	20.78	Taurus