Comet 20D/Westphal

Comet 20D/Westphal is currently in the constellation of Centaurus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 20D/Westphal is 13h 57m 22s and the Declination is -50° 11’ 39” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 20D/Westphal is 30.17 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 20D/Westphal [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 20D/Westphal available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 20D/Westphal?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 20D/Westphal from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 20D/Westphal rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 20D/Westphal?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 20D/Westphal orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 20D/Westphal with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 20D/Westphal for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 20D/Westphal in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 20D/Westphal with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 20D/Westphal is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 20D/Westphal?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 20D/Westphal in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 20D/Westphal Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 20D/Westphal from Earth is currently 4,055,357,058 kilometers, equivalent to 27.108388 Astronomical Units. Light takes 3 hours, 45 minutes and 27.2151 seconds to travel from Comet 20D/Westphal and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 20D/Westphal 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 20D/Westphal from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 20D/Westphal to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 20D/Westphal to Earth happens on Wed Apr 18 2096 at a distance of 2.068988 Astronomical Units, or 309,516,185 kilometers:

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

Comet 20D/Westphal brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 20D/Westphal is 30.17.

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 20D/Westphal, 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 20D/Westphal rise and set times

Comet 20D/Westphal is currently not visible from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 20D/Westphal 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 20D/Westphal Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 20D/Westphal with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 20D/Westphal 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 20D/Westphal 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 20D/Westphal computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 20D/Westphal in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Oct 16	13h 55m 36s	-50° 06’ 56”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 17	13h 55m 50s	-50° 07’ 27”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 18	13h 56m 03s	-50° 08’ 00”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 19	13h 56m 17s	-50° 08’ 35”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 20	13h 56m 30s	-50° 09’ 10”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 21	13h 56m 44s	-50° 09’ 47”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 22	13h 56m 57s	-50° 10’ 24”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 23	13h 57m 11s	-50° 11’ 03”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 24	13h 57m 24s	-50° 11’ 44”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 25	13h 57m 38s	-50° 12’ 27”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 26	13h 57m 51s	-50° 13’ 09”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 27	13h 58m 05s	-50° 13’ 54”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 28	13h 58m 18s	-50° 14’ 39”	30.17	Centaurus
2020 Oct 29	13h 58m 31s	-50° 15’ 27”	30.17	Centaurus