Comet 284P/McNaught

Comet 284P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet 284P/McNaught is 19h 08m 57s and the Declination is -16° 11’ 27” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 284P/McNaught is 19.36 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 284P/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]:

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.

Additional information about Comet 284P/McNaught available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 284P/McNaught?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 284P/McNaught from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 284P/McNaught rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 284P/McNaught?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 284P/McNaught orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 284P/McNaught with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 284P/McNaught for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 284P/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 284P/McNaught with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 284P/McNaught is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 284P/McNaught?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 284P/McNaught in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 284P/McNaught Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 284P/McNaught from Earth is currently 548,607,842 kilometers, equivalent to 3.667217 Astronomical Units. Light takes 30 minutes and 29.9588 seconds to travel from Comet 284P/McNaught and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 284P/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 284P/McNaught from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 284P/McNaught to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 284P/McNaught to Earth happens on Sun Oct 8 2090 at a distance of 1.023542 Astronomical Units, or 153,119,635 kilometers:

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

Comet 284P/McNaught brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 284P/McNaught is 19.36.

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 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 284P/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 284P/McNaught rise and set times

Today's Comet 284P/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 284P/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 284P/McNaught Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 284P/McNaught with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 284P/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 284P/McNaught 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 284P/McNaught computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 284P/McNaught in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 Jan 18	18h 55m 54s	-16° 22’ 53”	19.47	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 19	18h 57m 43s	-16° 21’ 33”	19.45	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 20	18h 59m 31s	-16° 20’ 08”	19.44	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 21	19h 01m 19s	-16° 18’ 38”	19.42	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 22	19h 03m 08s	-16° 17’ 03”	19.41	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 23	19h 04m 56s	-16° 15’ 24”	19.39	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 24	19h 06m 45s	-16° 13’ 40”	19.38	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 25	19h 08m 34s	-16° 11’ 49”	19.36	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 26	19h 10m 22s	-16° 09’ 56”	19.35	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 27	19h 12m 11s	-16° 07’ 55”	19.33	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 28	19h 13m 59s	-16° 05’ 52”	19.31	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 29	19h 15m 47s	-16° 03’ 42”	19.30	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 30	19h 17m 36s	-16° 01’ 27”	19.28	Sagittarius
2021 Jan 31	19h 19m 24s	-15° 59’ 08”	19.27	Sagittarius