Your guide to the Solar System and the night sky
By donating now you help keep this site alive and free from ads. Please consider supporting this project.
🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:50  ☀️ Transit: 13:04  🌅 Sunset: 19:19

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught is currently in the constellation of Taurus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught is 04h 50m 00s and the Declination is +16° 45’ 06” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught is 24.93 (JPL).

04h 50m 00s
+16° 45’ 06”
Taurus
24.93

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 73.2°
Max altitude: 55.3°
Azimuth: 286.7°
  • 319P/Catalina-McNaught is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
  • Given its current magnitude, 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-McNaught Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Comet 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-McNaught in Taurus on March, 26 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Map showing Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught in Taurus on March, 26 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 319P/Catalina-McNaught is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

319P/Catalina-McNaught
RA: 04h 50m 00s
Dec: +16° 45’ 06”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught from Earth is currently 575,204,725 kilometers, equivalent to 3.845006 Astronomical Units. Light takes 31 minutes and 58.6764 seconds to travel from Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught and arrive to us.

575,204,725
3.845006
31 minutes and 58.6764 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-McNaught from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught to Earth happens on Wed Jul 18 2068 at a distance of 0.175307 Astronomical Units, or 26,225,598 kilometers:

Wed Jul 18 2068
26,225,598
0.175307

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

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught Brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught is 24.93.

24.93
-
-

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 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-McNaught as a function of time

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught at epoch 09 September 2013 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456545.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.66498959
Orbit inclination i 15.07422840°
Perihelion distance q 1.19698482 AU
179,066,381 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.94897115 AU
889,953,418 km
Semi-major axis a 3.57297798 AU
534,509,900 km
Orbital period period 6.7539 years
2,466.8568 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2015-Jul-01 22:21:41
2,457,205.4317 JD
Next perihelion transit 2022-Apr-02 18:55
2,459,672.2885 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 203.68088699949°
Longitude of the ascending node node 111.36670354638°
Mean anomaly M 263.69306159703°
Mean motion n 0.14593470°/day

Visualization of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 319P/Catalina-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 319P/Catalina-McNaught
View Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 319P/Catalina-McNaught in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2023 Mar 19 04h 44m 16s +16° 14’ 50” 24.80 Taurus
2023 Mar 20 04h 45m 02s +16° 19’ 14” 24.82 Taurus
2023 Mar 21 04h 45m 50s +16° 23’ 34” 24.84 Taurus
2023 Mar 22 04h 46m 37s +16° 27’ 52” 24.86 Taurus
2023 Mar 23 04h 47m 26s +16° 32’ 08” 24.88 Taurus
2023 Mar 24 04h 48m 15s +16° 36’ 24” 24.89 Taurus
2023 Mar 25 04h 49m 05s +16° 40’ 36” 24.91 Taurus
2023 Mar 26 04h 49m 55s +16° 44’ 45” 24.93 Taurus
2023 Mar 27 04h 50m 47s +16° 48’ 54” 24.95 Taurus
2023 Mar 28 04h 51m 38s +16° 52’ 59” 24.97 Taurus
2023 Mar 29 04h 52m 29s +16° 57’ 02” 24.98 Taurus
2023 Mar 30 04h 53m 22s +17° 01’ 04” 25.00 Taurus
2023 Mar 31 04h 54m 15s +17° 05’ 03” 25.02 Taurus
2023 Apr 01 04h 55m 09s +17° 08’ 58” 25.04 Taurus