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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 5:57  ☀️ Transit: 12:05  🌅 Sunset: 18:14

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).

12h 26m 20s
-09° 26’ 56”
Virgo
26.08

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):

Azimuth: 99.4°
Max altitude: 29.1°
Azimuth: 260.6°
  • 260P/McNaught is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
  • Right now it is placed in the West-South-West direction at an altitude of 1° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 260P/McNaught is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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

Comet 260P/McNaught Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Comet 260P/McNaught finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.

Map showing Comet 260P/McNaught in Virgo on March, 23 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Map showing Comet 260P/McNaught in Virgo on March, 23 2023
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen
 = visible to the naked eye
 = binocular, brighter than 10th magnitude
= current altitude ≥ 30°   = current altitude < 30°   = below the horizon
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]

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.

260P/McNaught
RA: 12h 26m 20s
Dec: -09° 26’ 56”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 260P/McNaught
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
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 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.

724,727,422
4.844504
40 minutes and 17.4305 seconds

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.

Chart of the distance of Comet 260P/McNaught from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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:

Fri Oct 4 2019
84,103,294
0.562196

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.

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.

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

Comet 260P/McNaught Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 260P/McNaught at epoch 12 October 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 2012-Sep-12 12:08:17
2,456,183.0058 JD
Next perihelion transit 2019-Sep-30 18:19
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

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!

Orbit Diagram of Comet 260P/McNaught
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
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