Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is currently in the constellation of Leo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is 10h 54m 35s and the Declination is -05° 46’ 48” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is 23.00 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner [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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner from Earth is currently 913,619,020 kilometers, equivalent to 6.107166 Astronomical Units. Light takes 50 minutes and 47.5050 seconds to travel from Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner to Earth happens on Fri Oct 28 2078 at a distance of 0.25555475 Astronomical Units, or 38,230,446 kilometers:

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

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner is 23.00.

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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner, 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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner rise and set times

Today's Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 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 21P/Giacobini-Zinner 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Aug 05	10h 49m 01s	-05° 29’ 13”	23.00	Sextans
2020 Aug 06	10h 49m 44s	-05° 31’ 18”	23.00	Sextans
2020 Aug 07	10h 50m 26s	-05° 33’ 28”	23.00	Sextans
2020 Aug 08	10h 51m 10s	-05° 35’ 39”	23.00	Sextans
2020 Aug 09	10h 51m 51s	-05° 37’ 54”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 10	10h 52m 35s	-05° 40’ 10”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 11	10h 53m 17s	-05° 42’ 29”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 12	10h 54m 01s	-05° 44’ 53”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 13	10h 54m 44s	-05° 47’ 17”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 14	10h 55m 27s	-05° 49’ 45”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 15	10h 56m 11s	-05° 52’ 17”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 16	10h 56m 54s	-05° 54’ 50”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 17	10h 57m 38s	-05° 57’ 24”	23.00	Leo
2020 Aug 18	10h 58m 22s	-06° 00’ 02”	23.00	Leo