Comet 252P/LINEAR

Comet 252P/LINEAR is currently in the constellation of Cetus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 252P/LINEAR is 02h 25m 33s and the Declination is +04° 45’ 28” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 252P/LINEAR is 22.44 (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 296,363,742 kilometers, equivalent to 1.981069 Astronomical Units. Light takes 16 minutes and 28.5630 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 22.44.

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
2021 Jan 18	02h 22m 41s	+04° 18’ 23”	22.54	Cetus
2021 Jan 19	02h 22m 59s	+04° 21’ 42”	22.52	Cetus
2021 Jan 20	02h 23m 20s	+04° 25’ 11”	22.51	Cetus
2021 Jan 21	02h 23m 41s	+04° 28’ 50”	22.50	Cetus
2021 Jan 22	02h 24m 06s	+04° 32’ 35”	22.48	Cetus
2021 Jan 23	02h 24m 32s	+04° 36’ 30”	22.47	Cetus
2021 Jan 24	02h 24m 59s	+04° 40’ 35”	22.46	Cetus
2021 Jan 25	02h 25m 27s	+04° 44’ 45”	22.44	Cetus
2021 Jan 26	02h 25m 58s	+04° 49’ 05”	22.43	Cetus
2021 Jan 27	02h 26m 30s	+04° 53’ 31”	22.42	Cetus
2021 Jan 28	02h 27m 03s	+04° 58’ 06”	22.40	Cetus
2021 Jan 29	02h 27m 39s	+05° 02’ 48”	22.39	Cetus
2021 Jan 30	02h 28m 17s	+05° 07’ 39”	22.37	Cetus
2021 Jan 31	02h 28m 55s	+05° 12’ 34”	22.36	Cetus