Comet 252P/LINEAR

Comet 252P/LINEAR is currently in the constellation of Cetus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 252P/LINEAR is 03h 20m 05s and the Declination is +09° 21’ 13” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 252P/LINEAR is 23.80 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 252P/LINEAR [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 252P/LINEAR available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 252P/LINEAR?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 252P/LINEAR from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 252P/LINEAR rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 252P/LINEAR?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 252P/LINEAR orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 252P/LINEAR with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 252P/LINEAR for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 252P/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 252P/LINEAR with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 252P/LINEAR is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 252P/LINEAR?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 252P/LINEAR in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 252P/LINEAR Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 252P/LINEAR from Earth is currently 290,775,397 kilometers, equivalent to 1.943713 Astronomical Units. Light takes 16 minutes and 9.9223 seconds to travel from Comet 252P/LINEAR and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 252P/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 252P/LINEAR from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 252P/LINEAR to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 252P/LINEAR to Earth happens on Tue Mar 22 2016 at a distance of 0.035735 Astronomical Units, or 5,345,839 kilometers:

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

Comet 252P/LINEAR brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 252P/LINEAR is 23.80.

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 252P/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.

Comet 252P/LINEAR rise and set times

Today's Comet 252P/LINEAR 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 252P/LINEAR 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 252P/LINEAR Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 252P/LINEAR with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 252P/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 252P/LINEAR 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 252P/LINEAR computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 252P/LINEAR in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Oct 20	03h 26m 18s	+10° 14’ 26”	23.99	Taurus
2020 Oct 21	03h 25m 32s	+10° 07’ 28”	23.96	Taurus
2020 Oct 22	03h 24m 45s	+10° 00’ 27”	23.93	Taurus
2020 Oct 23	03h 23m 56s	+09° 53’ 20”	23.91	Taurus
2020 Oct 24	03h 23m 05s	+09° 46’ 09”	23.88	Cetus
2020 Oct 25	03h 22m 14s	+09° 38’ 53”	23.86	Cetus
2020 Oct 26	03h 21m 21s	+09° 31’ 35”	23.83	Cetus
2020 Oct 27	03h 20m 27s	+09° 24’ 12”	23.81	Cetus
2020 Oct 28	03h 19m 32s	+09° 16’ 46”	23.79	Cetus
2020 Oct 29	03h 18m 36s	+09° 09’ 17”	23.76	Cetus
2020 Oct 30	03h 17m 38s	+09° 01’ 45”	23.74	Cetus
2020 Oct 31	03h 16m 40s	+08° 54’ 11”	23.71	Cetus
2020 Nov 01	03h 15m 39s	+08° 46’ 36”	23.69	Cetus
2020 Nov 02	03h 14m 39s	+08° 38’ 57”	23.67	Cetus