Comet 246P/NEAT

Comet 246P/NEAT is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet 246P/NEAT is 18h 21m 53s and the Declination is -22° 47’ 44” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 246P/NEAT is 15.28 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 246P/NEAT [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 246P/NEAT available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 246P/NEAT?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 246P/NEAT from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 246P/NEAT rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 246P/NEAT?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 246P/NEAT orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 246P/NEAT with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 246P/NEAT for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 246P/NEAT in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 246P/NEAT with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 246P/NEAT is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 246P/NEAT?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 246P/NEAT in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 246P/NEAT Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 246P/NEAT from Earth is currently 467,459,872 kilometers, equivalent to 3.124776 Astronomical Units. Light takes 25 minutes and 59.2783 seconds to travel from Comet 246P/NEAT and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 246P/NEAT 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 246P/NEAT from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 246P/NEAT to Earth

Between January 2014 and January 2100, the closest approach of Comet 246P/NEAT to Earth happens on Thu Jul 1 2021 at a distance of 1.944325 Astronomical Units, or 290,866,837 kilometers:

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

Comet 246P/NEAT brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 246P/NEAT is 15.28.

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 246P/NEAT, 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 246P/NEAT rise and set times

Today's Comet 246P/NEAT 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 246P/NEAT 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 246P/NEAT Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 246P/NEAT with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 246P/NEAT 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 246P/NEAT 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 246P/NEAT computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 246P/NEAT in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 Feb 22	18h 10m 59s	-22° 27’ 33”	15.33	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 23	18h 12m 29s	-22° 30’ 20”	15.33	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 24	18h 13m 58s	-22° 33’ 06”	15.32	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 25	18h 15m 25s	-22° 35’ 48”	15.31	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 26	18h 16m 54s	-22° 38’ 30”	15.30	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 27	18h 18m 20s	-22° 41’ 11”	15.29	Sagittarius
2021 Feb 28	18h 19m 47s	-22° 43’ 50”	15.28	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 01	18h 21m 14s	-22° 46’ 27”	15.28	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 02	18h 22m 39s	-22° 49’ 05”	15.27	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 03	18h 24m 05s	-22° 51’ 41”	15.26	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 04	18h 25m 28s	-22° 54’ 15”	15.25	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 05	18h 26m 53s	-22° 56’ 51”	15.24	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 06	18h 28m 17s	-22° 59’ 23”	15.23	Sagittarius
2021 Mar 07	18h 29m 39s	-23° 01’ 56”	15.23	Sagittarius