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public  Fuenteguinaldo, Spagna Fuenteguinaldo, Spagna  ⓘ
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Transit: 14:30 
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Comet 217P/LINEAR

Below the horizon.  Rise: 5:37 | Tran: 12:25 | Set: 19:13
Alt: -34.75°   Az: 348.90°   Direction: North

Comet 217P/LINEAR is in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 311,671,119.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 04h 39m 38s and the Declination is +14° 07’ 39” (apparent coordinates). The latest observed magnitude of comet 217P/LINEAR is 12.9 (data provided by COBS).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 217P/LINEAR in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 217P/LINEAR in the constellation of Taurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 217P/LINEAR in the constellation of Taurus 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 217P/LINEAR 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.

217P/LINEAR
RA: 04h 38m 12s
Dec: +14° 04’ 42”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 217P/LINEAR. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

04h 39m 38s
+14° 07’ 39”
11h 22m 27s
16h 02m 06s

J2000

04h 38m 12s
+14° 04’ 42”

Additional Information

Taurus
12.9
1.2'
1.1'
2025-06-26
16.30

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 217P/LINEAR from Fuenteguinaldo, Spagna (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Madrid):

Azimuth: 76.0°
Max altitude: 63.6°
Azimuth: 284.1°

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 217P/LINEAR from Earth is currently 311,671,119.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.0833927485 Astronomical Units. Light takes 17m 19.623s to travel from comet 217P/LINEAR and arrive to us.

311,671,119.0
2.0833927485
17m 19.623s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 217P/LINEAR 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 217P/LINEAR 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 217P/LINEAR 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 217P/LINEAR to Earth will happen on Tuesday 8 September 2048 at a distance of 0.396250 Astronomical Units, or 59,278,127 kilometers:

Tuesday 8 September 2048
59,278,127
0.396250

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 217P/LINEAR, 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 217P/LINEAR as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 217P/LINEAR at epoch August, 31 2010 00:00 UTC (JD: 2455440.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.68962028
Orbit inclination i 12.88009255°
Perihelion distance q 1.22427494 AU
183,148,924 km
Aphelion distance Q 6.66460993 AU
997,011,457 km
Semi-major axis a 3.94444243 AU
590,080,190 km
Orbital period period 7.8341 years
2,861.3887 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp September 8, 2009
2,455,083.4898 JD
Next perihelion transit July 10, 2017
2,457,944.8785 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 246.76732060005°
Longitude of the ascending node node 125.62057197143°
Mean anomaly M 44.91653396829°
Mean motion n 0.12581304°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 217P/LINEAR 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 217P/LINEAR 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
Jun 24 2025 04h 12m 31s +13° 02’ 31” 16.19 Taurus
Jun 25 2025 04h 15m 59s +13° 11’ 38” 16.20 Taurus
Jun 26 2025 04h 19m 27s +13° 20’ 29” 16.21 Taurus
Jun 27 2025 04h 22m 54s +13° 29’ 05” 16.23 Taurus
Jun 28 2025 04h 26m 20s +13° 37’ 26” 16.24 Taurus
Jun 29 2025 04h 29m 47s +13° 45’ 32” 16.25 Taurus
Jun 30 2025 04h 33m 11s +13° 53’ 23” 16.27 Taurus
Jul 01 2025 04h 36m 35s +14° 00’ 58” 16.28 Taurus
Jul 02 2025 04h 39m 57s +14° 08’ 19” 16.30 Taurus
Jul 03 2025 04h 43m 19s +14° 15’ 25” 16.31 Taurus
Jul 04 2025 04h 46m 40s +14° 22’ 16” 16.33 Orion
Jul 05 2025 04h 49m 59s +14° 28’ 53” 16.34 Orion
Jul 06 2025 04h 53m 18s +14° 35’ 16” 16.36 Orion
Jul 07 2025 04h 56m 36s +14° 41’ 23” 16.37 Orion

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