Comet 260P/McNaught

Comet 260P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Virgo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 260P/McNaught is 11h 52m 48s and the Declination is +01° 21’ 00” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught is 25.71 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 260P/McNaught [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]:

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.

Additional information about Comet 260P/McNaught available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 260P/McNaught?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 260P/McNaught from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 260P/McNaught rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 260P/McNaught?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 260P/McNaught orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 260P/McNaught with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 260P/McNaught in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 260P/McNaught with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 260P/McNaught is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 260P/McNaught?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 260P/McNaught in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 260P/McNaught Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 260P/McNaught from Earth is currently 810,966,609 kilometers, equivalent to 5.420977 Astronomical Units. Light takes 45 minutes and 5.0934 seconds to travel from Comet 260P/McNaught and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 260P/McNaught to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 260P/McNaught to Earth happens on Fri Oct 4 2019 at a distance of 0.562196 Astronomical Units, or 84,103,322 kilometers:

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

Comet 260P/McNaught brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught is 25.71.

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 260P/McNaught, 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 260P/McNaught rise and set times

Today's Comet 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 260P/McNaught with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 260P/McNaught computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 260P/McNaught in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 Dec 01	11h 50m 32s	+01° 41’ 07”	25.73	Virgo
2021 Dec 02	11h 50m 53s	+01° 38’ 08”	25.73	Virgo
2021 Dec 03	11h 51m 14s	+01° 35’ 12”	25.73	Virgo
2021 Dec 04	11h 51m 33s	+01° 32’ 20”	25.73	Virgo
2021 Dec 05	11h 51m 51s	+01° 29’ 31”	25.72	Virgo
2021 Dec 06	11h 52m 10s	+01° 26’ 47”	25.72	Virgo
2021 Dec 07	11h 52m 27s	+01° 24’ 06”	25.72	Virgo
2021 Dec 08	11h 52m 45s	+01° 21’ 29”	25.71	Virgo
2021 Dec 09	11h 53m 02s	+01° 18’ 55”	25.71	Virgo
2021 Dec 10	11h 53m 17s	+01° 16’ 24”	25.71	Virgo
2021 Dec 11	11h 53m 33s	+01° 13’ 59”	25.70	Virgo
2021 Dec 12	11h 53m 48s	+01° 11’ 36”	25.70	Virgo
2021 Dec 13	11h 54m 02s	+01° 09’ 19”	25.70	Virgo
2021 Dec 14	11h 54m 15s	+01° 07’ 04”	25.69	Virgo