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public  Ouégoa, New Caledonia Ouégoa, New Caledonia  ⓘ
TimezonePacific/Noumea
Sunrise: 6:39 
Transit: 12:06 
Sunset: 17:33
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Comets » 

Comet 327P/Van Ness

Below the horizon.  Rise: 10:05 | Tran: 16:00 | Set: 21:51
Alt: -5.77°   Az: 273.14°   Direction: West

Comet 327P/Van Ness is in the constellation of Sextans, at a distance of 886,458,918.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 10h 47m 53s and the Declination is +04° 56’ 18” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 327P/Van Ness, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 27.15).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 327P/Van Ness in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 327P/Van Ness in the constellation of Sextans on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 327P/Van Ness in the constellation of Sextans 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 327P/Van Ness 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.

327P/Van Ness
RA: 10h 46m 34s
Dec: +05° 04’ 24”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 327P/Van Ness. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

10h 47m 53s
+04° 56’ 18”
06h 17m 19s
17h 05m 13s

J2000

10h 46m 34s
+05° 04’ 24”

Additional Information

Sextans
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
27.15

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 327P/Van Ness from Ouégoa, New Caledonia (all times relative to the local timezone Pacific/Noumea):

Azimuth: 85.1°
Max altitude: 64.7°
Azimuth: 274.9°

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 327P/Van Ness from Earth is currently 886,458,918.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.9256118677 Astronomical Units. Light takes 49m 16.909s to travel from comet 327P/Van Ness and arrive to us.

886,458,918.0
5.9256118677
49m 16.909s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 327P/Van Ness 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 327P/Van Ness 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 327P/Van Ness 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 327P/Van Ness to Earth will happen on Thursday 18 September 2042 at a distance of 0.571656 Astronomical Units, or 85,518,466 kilometers:

Thursday 18 September 2042
85,518,466
0.571656

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 327P/Van Ness, 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 327P/Van Ness as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 327P/Van Ness at epoch September, 25 2020 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459118.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.56283038
Orbit inclination i 36.24515588°
Perihelion distance q 1.55754067 AU
233,004,769 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.56802619 AU
832,964,864 km
Semi-major axis a 3.56278343 AU
532,984,816 km
Orbital period period 6.7250 years
2,456.3065 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp September 2, 2022
2,459,825.0650 JD
Next perihelion transit May 24, 2029
2,462,281.3715 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 185.02202491169°
Longitude of the ascending node node 173.97441924073°
Mean anomaly M 256.44476482509°
Mean motion n 0.14656151°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 327P/Van Ness 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 327P/Van Ness 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 27 2025 10h 44m 13s +05° 01’ 52” 27.10 Sextans
Jun 28 2025 10h 44m 42s +05° 01’ 19” 27.11 Sextans
Jun 29 2025 10h 45m 10s +05° 00’ 41” 27.11 Sextans
Jun 30 2025 10h 45m 39s +05° 00’ 01” 27.12 Sextans
Jul 01 2025 10h 46m 08s +04° 59’ 17” 27.13 Sextans
Jul 02 2025 10h 46m 38s +04° 58’ 29” 27.13 Sextans
Jul 03 2025 10h 47m 08s +04° 57’ 38” 27.14 Sextans
Jul 04 2025 10h 47m 39s +04° 56’ 45” 27.15 Sextans
Jul 05 2025 10h 48m 10s +04° 55’ 47” 27.15 Sextans
Jul 06 2025 10h 48m 41s +04° 54’ 47” 27.16 Sextans
Jul 07 2025 10h 49m 13s +04° 53’ 42” 27.17 Sextans
Jul 08 2025 10h 49m 44s +04° 52’ 36” 27.17 Sextans
Jul 09 2025 10h 50m 17s +04° 51’ 27” 27.18 Sextans
Jul 10 2025 10h 50m 49s +04° 50’ 14” 27.18 Sextans

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