Comet 260P/McNaught
Comet 260P/McNaught Position
Comet 260P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Aquarius. The current Right Ascension is 23h 48m 20s and the Declination is -14° 15’ 59”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet 260P/McNaught is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see fuillscreen Online Planetarium)
Field of view: 60x30 degrees
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Hihgher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Comet 260P/McNaught is right now (view fullscreen)
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
The distance of Comet 260P/McNaught from Earth is currently 186,855,954 kilometers, equivalent to 1.249055 Astronomical Units. Light takes 10 minutes and 23.2844 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 2075 the closest approach of Comet 260P/McNaught to Earth happens on Fri Oct 4 2019 at a distance of 0.56219052 Astronomical Units, or 84,102,505 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 16.36.
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 behvior 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
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
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, consideting the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmoshpere conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
Comet 260P/McNaught Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 260P/McNaught at epoch 13 January 2011 00:00 UTC (JD: 2455575.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.59350119 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 15.73706085° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 1.49821936 AU 224,130,426 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
5.87311517 AU 878,605,525 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
3.68566726 AU 551,367,976 km |
| Orbital period | period |
7.0800 years 2,584.4767 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 2012-Sep-12 10:36:08 2,456,182.9418 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 2019-Oct-10 22:02 2,458,767.4184 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 15.611884920353° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 351.98173963738° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 275.38749905412° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.13929319°/day |
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!
View Comet 260P/McNaught in the 3D Solar System Simulator
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Jun 12 | 23h 32m 48s | -16° 24’ 34” | 16.69 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 13 | 23h 35m 00s | -16° 06’ 52” | 16.64 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 14 | 23h 37m 14s | -15° 48’ 59” | 16.60 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 15 | 23h 39m 26s | -15° 30’ 52” | 16.55 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 16 | 23h 41m 39s | -15° 12’ 33” | 16.50 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 17 | 23h 43m 51s | -14° 54’ 02” | 16.45 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 18 | 23h 46m 05s | -14° 35’ 20” | 16.41 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 19 | 23h 48m 17s | -14° 16’ 23” | 16.36 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 20 | 23h 50m 30s | -13° 57’ 12” | 16.31 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 21 | 23h 52m 42s | -13° 37’ 50” | 16.26 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 22 | 23h 54m 55s | -13° 18’ 15” | 16.22 | Aquarius |
| 2019 Jun 23 | 23h 57m 06s | -12° 58’ 26” | 16.17 | Cetus |
| 2019 Jun 24 | 23h 59m 18s | -12° 38’ 22” | 16.12 | Cetus |
| 2019 Jun 25 | 00h 01m 32s | -12° 18’ 06” | 16.07 | Cetus |