Comet 260P/McNaught

Comet 260P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Leo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 260P/McNaught is 09h 46m 12s and the Declination is +17° 25’ 47” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught is 24.64 (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]:

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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 685,903,777 kilometers, equivalent to 4.584984 Astronomical Units. Light takes 38 minutes and 7.9287 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 84,103,320 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 24.64.

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 May 08	09h 44m 35s	+17° 48’ 28”	24.54	Leo
2021 May 09	09h 44m 45s	+17° 45’ 29”	24.56	Leo
2021 May 10	09h 44m 57s	+17° 42’ 28”	24.57	Leo
2021 May 11	09h 45m 11s	+17° 39’ 23”	24.58	Leo
2021 May 12	09h 45m 24s	+17° 36’ 15”	24.60	Leo
2021 May 13	09h 45m 38s	+17° 33’ 06”	24.61	Leo
2021 May 14	09h 45m 52s	+17° 29’ 53”	24.62	Leo
2021 May 15	09h 46m 09s	+17° 26’ 36”	24.64	Leo
2021 May 16	09h 46m 24s	+17° 23’ 18”	24.65	Leo
2021 May 17	09h 46m 41s	+17° 19’ 56”	24.67	Leo
2021 May 18	09h 46m 59s	+17° 16’ 33”	24.68	Leo
2021 May 19	09h 47m 17s	+17° 13’ 08”	24.69	Leo
2021 May 20	09h 47m 36s	+17° 09’ 38”	24.71	Leo
2021 May 21	09h 47m 57s	+17° 06’ 06”	24.72	Leo