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public  Kaitong, China Kaitong, China  ⓘ
TimezoneAsia/Shanghai
Sunrise: 4:10 
Transit: 11:52 
Sunset: 19:34
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Comets » 

Comet 260P/McNaught

Below the horizon.  Rise: 15:51 | Tran: 19:14 | Set: 22:37
Alt: -25.22°   Az: 248.58°   Direction: West-South-West

Comet 260P/McNaught is in the constellation of Centaurus, at a distance of 460,199,763.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 14h 25m 38s and the Declination is -32° 19’ 25” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 260P/McNaught, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 22.48).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 260P/McNaught in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 260P/McNaught in the constellation of Centaurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 260P/McNaught in the constellation of Centaurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of comet 260P/McNaught against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

260P/McNaught
RA: 14h 24m 07s
Dec: -32° 12’ 32”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 260P/McNaught. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

14h 25m 38s
-32° 19’ 25”
06h 18m 50s
20h 44m 29s

J2000

14h 24m 07s
-32° 12’ 32”

Additional Information

Centaurus
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.48

The observed values of Magnitude, Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted 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.

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of comet 260P/McNaught from Kaitong, China (all times relative to the local timezone Asia/Shanghai):

Azimuth: 122.4°
Max altitude: 12.8°
Azimuth: 237.7°

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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of comet 260P/McNaught from Earth is currently 460,199,763.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.0762454094 Astronomical Units. Light takes 25m 35.061s to travel from comet 260P/McNaught and arrive to us.

460,199,763.0
3.0762454094
25m 35.061s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 260P/McNaught from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of comet 260P/McNaught from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 260P/McNaught from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet 260P/McNaught to Earth happened on Friday 4 October 2019 at a distance of 0.562196 Astronomical Units, or 84,103,294 kilometers:

Friday 4 October 2019
84,103,294
0.562196

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

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of comet 260P/McNaught, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of comet 260P/McNaught as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 260P/McNaught at epoch October, 12 2014 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456943.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.59426383
Orbit inclination i 15.76861437°
Perihelion distance q 1.49146421 AU
223,119,870 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.86042758 AU
876,707,490 km
Semi-major axis a 3.67594590 AU
549,913,680 km
Orbital period period 7.0479 years
2,574.2581 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp September 12, 2012
2,456,183.0058 JD
Next perihelion transit September 30, 2019
2,458,757.2639 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 15.578161656026°
Longitude of the ascending node node 351.86319273167°
Mean anomaly M 106.35216626541°
Mean motion n 0.13984612°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 260P/McNaught relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jun 29 2025 14h 27m 31s -32° 53’ 15” 22.51 Centaurus
Jun 30 2025 14h 27m 12s -32° 48’ 42” 22.51 Centaurus
Jul 01 2025 14h 26m 54s -32° 44’ 11” 22.50 Centaurus
Jul 02 2025 14h 26m 38s -32° 39’ 43” 22.50 Centaurus
Jul 03 2025 14h 26m 23s -32° 35’ 19” 22.49 Centaurus
Jul 04 2025 14h 26m 09s -32° 30’ 58” 22.49 Centaurus
Jul 05 2025 14h 25m 57s -32° 26’ 40” 22.49 Centaurus
Jul 06 2025 14h 25m 46s -32° 22’ 27” 22.48 Centaurus
Jul 07 2025 14h 25m 35s -32° 18’ 18” 22.48 Centaurus
Jul 08 2025 14h 25m 27s -32° 14’ 12” 22.48 Centaurus
Jul 09 2025 14h 25m 20s -32° 10’ 10” 22.47 Centaurus
Jul 10 2025 14h 25m 14s -32° 06’ 13” 22.47 Centaurus
Jul 11 2025 14h 25m 10s -32° 02’ 20” 22.47 Centaurus
Jul 12 2025 14h 25m 07s -31° 58’ 32” 22.46 Centaurus

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