Comet 260P/McNaught

Comet 260P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Virgo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 260P/McNaught is 12h 26m 20s and the Declination is -09° 26’ 56” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught is 26.08 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 260P/McNaught from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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.

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?)
• 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 724,727,422 kilometers, equivalent to 4.844504 Astronomical Units. Light takes 40 minutes and 17.4305 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 1 January 2013 and 30 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 84,103,294 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 26.08.

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.

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
2023 Mar 16	12h 30m 30s	-09° 45’ 21”	26.09	Virgo
2023 Mar 17	12h 29m 57s	-09° 42’ 57”	26.09	Virgo
2023 Mar 18	12h 29m 21s	-09° 40’ 30”	26.09	Virgo
2023 Mar 19	12h 28m 48s	-09° 37’ 59”	26.09	Virgo
2023 Mar 20	12h 28m 13s	-09° 35’ 26”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 21	12h 27m 38s	-09° 32’ 50”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 22	12h 27m 02s	-09° 30’ 12”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 23	12h 26m 27s	-09° 27’ 32”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 24	12h 25m 53s	-09° 24’ 48”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 25	12h 25m 18s	-09° 22’ 02”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 26	12h 24m 42s	-09° 19’ 15”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 27	12h 24m 06s	-09° 16’ 27”	26.08	Virgo
2023 Mar 28	12h 23m 30s	-09° 13’ 36”	26.07	Virgo
2023 Mar 29	12h 22m 55s	-09° 10’ 42”	26.07	Virgo