Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Position
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is currently in the constellation of Hercules. The current Right Ascension is 18h 15m 30s and the Declination is +15° 29’ 21”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Field of view: 60x30 degrees
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Higher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is right now (view fullscreen)
Also check out Where is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Distance
The distance of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks from Earth is currently 1,922,212,293 kilometers, equivalent to 12.849196 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 46 minutes and 51.8100 seconds to travel from Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 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 12P/Pons-Brooks from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks to Earth
Between January 2013 and January 2100 the closest approach of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks to Earth happens on Sun Aug 28 2095 at a distance of 1.52501439 Astronomical Units, or 228,138,906 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks brightness
The current visual magnitude of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is 27.00.
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 12P/Pons-Brooks, 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 12P/Pons-Brooks rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 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 12P/Pons-Brooks 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.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks at epoch 01 January 1970 00:00 UTC (JD: 2435000.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.95481239 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 74.17689423° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 0.77366709 AU 115,738,949 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
33.46877940 AU 5,006,858,143 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
17.12122324 AU 2,561,298,546 km |
| Orbital period | period |
70.8500 years 25,876.2067 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 1954-May-22 21:08:25 2,434,885.3809 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 2025-Mar-27 02:06 2,460,761.5876 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 199.0284685654° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 255.8911443583° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 1.601583044411° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.01391239°/day |
Visualization of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 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!
View Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the 3D Solar System Simulator
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Feb 17 | 18h 14m 05s | +15° 08’ 22” | 27.04 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 18 | 18h 14m 17s | +15° 11’ 08” | 27.03 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 19 | 18h 14m 30s | +15° 13’ 56” | 27.03 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 20 | 18h 14m 42s | +15° 16’ 45” | 27.02 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 21 | 18h 14m 53s | +15° 19’ 37” | 27.02 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 22 | 18h 15m 05s | +15° 22’ 32” | 27.01 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 23 | 18h 15m 15s | +15° 25’ 27” | 27.00 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 24 | 18h 15m 27s | +15° 28’ 24” | 27.00 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 25 | 18h 15m 37s | +15° 31’ 23” | 26.99 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 26 | 18h 15m 47s | +15° 34’ 24” | 26.99 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 27 | 18h 15m 57s | +15° 37’ 27” | 26.98 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 28 | 18h 16m 08s | +15° 40’ 32” | 26.98 | Hercules |
| 2020 Feb 29 | 18h 16m 17s | +15° 43’ 37” | 26.97 | Hercules |
| 2020 Mar 01 | 18h 16m 26s | +15° 46’ 45” | 26.97 | Hercules |