Comet 284P/McNaught

Comet 284P/McNaught is currently in the constellation of Ophiucus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 284P/McNaught is 16h 39m 30s and the Declination is -13° 32’ 36” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 284P/McNaught is 20.41 (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]:

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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 570,289,017 kilometers, equivalent to 3.812147 Astronomical Units. Light takes 31 minutes and 42.2794 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 20.41.

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
2020 Oct 20	16h 29m 20s	-12° 54’ 42”	20.47	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 21	16h 30m 39s	-12° 59’ 57”	20.46	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 22	16h 32m 00s	-13° 05’ 08”	20.45	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 23	16h 33m 23s	-13° 10’ 18”	20.45	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 24	16h 34m 45s	-13° 15’ 24”	20.44	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 25	16h 36m 07s	-13° 20’ 29”	20.43	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 26	16h 37m 31s	-13° 25’ 28”	20.42	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 27	16h 38m 53s	-13° 30’ 27”	20.41	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 28	16h 40m 18s	-13° 35’ 21”	20.41	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 29	16h 41m 43s	-13° 40’ 13”	20.40	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 30	16h 43m 08s	-13° 45’ 02”	20.39	Ophiucus
2020 Oct 31	16h 44m 34s	-13° 49’ 46”	20.38	Ophiucus
2020 Nov 01	16h 46m 00s	-13° 54’ 29”	20.37	Ophiucus
2020 Nov 02	16h 47m 26s	-13° 59’ 08”	20.36	Ophiucus