Comet 217P/LINEAR

Comet 217P/LINEAR is currently in the constellation of Libra. The current Right Ascension of Comet 217P/LINEAR is 14h 51m 48s and the Declination is -00° 33’ 38” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 217P/LINEAR is 22.31 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 217P/LINEAR from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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.

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 217P/LINEAR?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 217P/LINEAR from Earth?)
• When does Comet 217P/LINEAR rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 217P/LINEAR?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 217P/LINEAR orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 217P/LINEAR with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 217P/LINEAR for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 217P/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 217P/LINEAR with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 217P/LINEAR is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 217P/LINEAR?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 217P/LINEAR in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 217P/LINEAR Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 217P/LINEAR from Earth is currently 720,696,376 kilometers, equivalent to 4.817558 Astronomical Units. Light takes 40 minutes and 3.9843 seconds to travel from Comet 217P/LINEAR and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 217P/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 217P/LINEAR from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 217P/LINEAR to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 217P/LINEAR to Earth happens on Tue Sep 8 2048 at a distance of 0.396240 Astronomical Units, or 59,276,666 kilometers:

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

Comet 217P/LINEAR Brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 217P/LINEAR is 22.31.

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 217P/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.

Visualization of Comet 217P/LINEAR Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 217P/LINEAR with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 217P/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 217P/LINEAR 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. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 217P/LINEAR in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Mar 23	14h 54m 48s	-01° 03’ 30”	22.37	Libra
2023 Mar 24	14h 54m 29s	-00° 59’ 49”	22.36	Libra
2023 Mar 25	14h 54m 07s	-00° 56’ 07”	22.36	Libra
2023 Mar 26	14h 53m 45s	-00° 52’ 23”	22.35	Libra
2023 Mar 27	14h 53m 24s	-00° 48’ 38”	22.34	Libra
2023 Mar 28	14h 53m 00s	-00° 44’ 53”	22.33	Libra
2023 Mar 29	14h 52m 36s	-00° 41’ 08”	22.33	Libra
2023 Mar 30	14h 52m 13s	-00° 37’ 21”	22.32	Libra
2023 Mar 31	14h 51m 47s	-00° 33’ 33”	22.31	Libra
2023 Apr 01	14h 51m 23s	-00° 29’ 47”	22.31	Virgo
2023 Apr 02	14h 50m 57s	-00° 25’ 59”	22.30	Virgo
2023 Apr 03	14h 50m 30s	-00° 22’ 12”	22.29	Virgo
2023 Apr 04	14h 50m 03s	-00° 18’ 24”	22.29	Virgo
2023 Apr 05	14h 49m 36s	-00° 14’ 36”	22.28	Virgo