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Comets » 

Comet 185P/Petriew

Above the horizon.  Rise: 12:51 | Tran: 18:12 | Set: 23:33
Alt: 5.50°   Az: 250.87°   Direction: West-South-West

Comet 185P/Petriew is in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 759,341,691.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 12h 43m 50s and the Declination is -07° 21’ 46” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 185P/Petriew, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 24.30.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 185P/Petriew in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 185P/Petriew in the constellation of Virgo on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 185P/Petriew in the constellation of Virgo on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of comet 185P/Petriew against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

185P/Petriew
RA: 12h 42m 31s
Dec: -07° 13’ 23”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 185P/Petriew. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

12h 43m 50s
-07° 21’ 46”
04h 45m 57s
17h 29m 48s

J2000

12h 42m 31s
-07° 13’ 23”

Additional Information

Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
24.30

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

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of comet 185P/Petriew from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 97.4°
Max altitude: 31.2°
Azimuth: 262.6°

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 185P/Petriew from Earth is currently 759,341,691.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.0758856891 Astronomical Units. Light takes 42m 12.891s to travel from comet 185P/Petriew and arrive to us.

759,341,691.0
5.0758856891
42m 12.891s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 185P/Petriew from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of comet 185P/Petriew from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 185P/Petriew from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet 185P/Petriew to Earth will happen on Tuesday 7 November 2056 at a distance of 0.281519 Astronomical Units, or 42,114,589 kilometers:

Tuesday 7 November 2056
42,114,589
0.281519

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

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of comet 185P/Petriew, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of comet 185P/Petriew as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 185P/Petriew at epoch April, 16 2015 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457129.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.69879499
Orbit inclination i 13.99731602°
Perihelion distance q 0.93383716 AU
139,700,051 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.26683770 AU
787,907,707 km
Semi-major axis a 3.10033743 AU
463,803,879 km
Orbital period period 5.4591 years
1,993.9390 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp August 13, 2012
2,456,152.5542 JD
Next perihelion transit January 27, 2018
2,458,146.4932 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 181.93755768907°
Longitude of the ascending node node 214.10082223653°
Mean anomaly M 176.38477656117°
Mean motion n 0.18054715°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 185P/Petriew relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of comet 185P/Petriew 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
Jul 07 2025 12h 41m 26s -07° 16’ 47” 24.22 Virgo
Jul 08 2025 12h 41m 42s -07° 17’ 09” 24.23 Virgo
Jul 09 2025 12h 41m 58s -07° 17’ 37” 24.24 Virgo
Jul 10 2025 12h 42m 16s -07° 18’ 08” 24.25 Virgo
Jul 11 2025 12h 42m 34s -07° 18’ 45” 24.26 Virgo
Jul 12 2025 12h 42m 52s -07° 19’ 25” 24.27 Virgo
Jul 13 2025 12h 43m 12s -07° 20’ 09” 24.28 Virgo
Jul 14 2025 12h 43m 31s -07° 20’ 58” 24.29 Virgo
Jul 15 2025 12h 43m 52s -07° 21’ 51” 24.30 Virgo
Jul 16 2025 12h 44m 12s -07° 22’ 47” 24.31 Virgo
Jul 17 2025 12h 44m 34s -07° 23’ 48” 24.32 Virgo
Jul 18 2025 12h 44m 56s -07° 24’ 53” 24.33 Virgo
Jul 19 2025 12h 45m 18s -07° 26’ 02” 24.34 Virgo
Jul 20 2025 12h 45m 41s -07° 27’ 14” 24.34 Virgo

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