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Comet 116P/Wild

Below the horizon.  Rise: 8:32 | Tran: 14:04 | Set: 19:35
Alt: -33.37°   Az: 49.70°   Direction: North-East

Comet 116P/Wild is in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 817,919,635.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 23h 23m 24s and the Declination is -05° 23’ 36” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 116P/Wild is 22.77 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 116P/Wild in Aquarius on February, 09 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 116P/Wild in Aquarius on February, 09 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

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

116P/Wild
RA: 23h 22m 06s
Dec: -05° 31’ 53”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 116P/Wild. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

23h 23m 24s
-05° 23’ 36”
14h 39m 05s
14h 02m 30s

J2000

23h 22m 06s
-05° 31’ 53”

Additional Information

Aquarius
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.77

The observed values of Magnitude, Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted 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.

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 116P/Wild from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 95.4°
Max altitude: 33.2°
Azimuth: 264.7°
  • 116P/Wild is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, 116P/Wild is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 116P/Wild from Earth is currently 817,919,635.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.4674550592 Astronomical Units. Light takes 45m 28.286s to travel from Comet 116P/Wild and arrive to us.

817,919,635.0
5.4674550592
45m 28.286s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 116P/Wild 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.

Chart of the distance of Comet 116P/Wild from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 116P/Wild to Earth happens on Sat Apr 14 2085 at a distance of 0.527412 Astronomical Units, or 78,899,663 kilometers:

Sat Apr 14 2085
78,899,663
0.527412

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 116P/Wild, 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.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet 116P/Wild as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 116P/Wild at epoch 15 April 2016 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457494.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.37227703
Orbit inclination i 3.60784374°
Perihelion distance q 2.18708578 AU
327,183,376 km
Aphelion distance Q 4.78122950 AU
715,261,754 km
Semi-major axis a 3.48415764 AU
521,222,565 km
Orbital period period 6.5036 years
2,375.4458 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2016-Jan-11 12:37:31
2,457,399.0261 JD
Next perihelion transit 2022-Jul-13 23:19
2,459,774.4718 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 173.31072730318°
Longitude of the ascending node node 20.991856003706°
Mean anomaly M 14.469123049665°
Mean motion n 0.15155050°/day

Orbit Visualization

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 116P/Wild computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 Feb 02 23h 17m 29s -06° 03’ 59” 22.72 Aquarius
2025 Feb 03 23h 18m 18s -05° 58’ 26” 22.73 Aquarius
2025 Feb 04 23h 19m 07s -05° 52’ 52” 22.74 Aquarius
2025 Feb 05 23h 19m 56s -05° 47’ 16” 22.74 Aquarius
2025 Feb 06 23h 20m 45s -05° 41’ 40” 22.75 Aquarius
2025 Feb 07 23h 21m 35s -05° 36’ 02” 22.75 Aquarius
2025 Feb 08 23h 22m 24s -05° 30’ 23” 22.76 Aquarius
2025 Feb 09 23h 23m 14s -05° 24’ 43” 22.77 Aquarius
2025 Feb 10 23h 24m 04s -05° 19’ 03” 22.77 Aquarius
2025 Feb 11 23h 24m 54s -05° 13’ 21” 22.78 Aquarius
2025 Feb 12 23h 25m 45s -05° 07’ 37” 22.78 Aquarius
2025 Feb 13 23h 26m 35s -05° 01’ 54” 22.79 Aquarius
2025 Feb 14 23h 27m 26s -04° 56’ 09” 22.79 Aquarius
2025 Feb 15 23h 28m 16s -04° 50’ 23” 22.80 Aquarius

Additional Resources