Comet 209P/LINEAR

Comet 209P/LINEAR is currently in the constellation of Cetus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 209P/LINEAR is 02h 09m 40s and the Declination is +01° 10’ 37” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 209P/LINEAR is 24.89 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 209P/LINEAR [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 209P/LINEAR available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 209P/LINEAR?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 209P/LINEAR from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 209P/LINEAR rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 209P/LINEAR?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 209P/LINEAR orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 209P/LINEAR with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 209P/LINEAR for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 209P/LINEAR in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 209P/LINEAR with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 209P/LINEAR is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 209P/LINEAR?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 209P/LINEAR in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 209P/LINEAR Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 209P/LINEAR from Earth is currently 840,491,867 kilometers, equivalent to 5.618341 Astronomical Units. Light takes 46 minutes and 43.5791 seconds to travel from Comet 209P/LINEAR and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 209P/LINEAR 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 209P/LINEAR from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 209P/LINEAR to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 209P/LINEAR to Earth happens on Thu May 29 2014 at a distance of 0.055551 Astronomical Units, or 8,310,292 kilometers:

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

Comet 209P/LINEAR brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 209P/LINEAR is 24.89.

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 209P/LINEAR, 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 209P/LINEAR rise and set times

Today's Comet 209P/LINEAR 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 209P/LINEAR 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 209P/LINEAR Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 209P/LINEAR with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 209P/LINEAR 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 209P/LINEAR 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 209P/LINEAR computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 209P/LINEAR in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 May 09	02h 03m 47s	+00° 37’ 41”	24.90	Cetus
2021 May 10	02h 04m 33s	+00° 42’ 07”	24.90	Cetus
2021 May 11	02h 05m 21s	+00° 46’ 32”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 12	02h 06m 06s	+00° 50’ 53”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 13	02h 06m 52s	+00° 55’ 12”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 14	02h 07m 37s	+00° 59’ 27”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 15	02h 08m 24s	+01° 03’ 41”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 16	02h 09m 10s	+01° 07’ 50”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 17	02h 09m 55s	+01° 11’ 57”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 18	02h 10m 40s	+01° 16’ 01”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 19	02h 11m 25s	+01° 20’ 03”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 20	02h 12m 10s	+01° 24’ 01”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 21	02h 12m 55s	+01° 27’ 56”	24.89	Cetus
2021 May 22	02h 13m 39s	+01° 31’ 49”	24.88	Cetus