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public  Grosselfingen, Alemania Grosselfingen, Alemania  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Berlin
Sunrise: 5:31 
Transit: 13:29 
Sunset: 21:26
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Comets » 

Comet 378P/McNaught

Below the horizon.  Rise: 4:23 | Tran: 11:44 | Set: 19:05
Alt: -14.33°   Az: 319.00°   Direction: North-West

Comet 378P/McNaught is in the constellation of Taurus, at a distance of 1,350,543,306.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 05h 15m 02s and the Declination is +17° 31’ 44” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 378P/McNaught, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 21.07).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 378P/McNaught in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 378P/McNaught in the constellation of Taurus on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 378P/McNaught in the constellation of Taurus 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 378P/McNaught 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.

378P/McNaught
RA: 05h 13m 33s
Dec: +17° 30’ 03”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 378P/McNaught. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

05h 15m 02s
+17° 31’ 44”
09h 12m 46s
14h 27m 48s

J2000

05h 13m 33s
+17° 30’ 03”

Additional Information

Taurus
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
21.07

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 378P/McNaught from Grosselfingen, Alemania (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Berlin):

Azimuth: 72.5°
Max altitude: 59.2°
Azimuth: 287.5°

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 378P/McNaught from Earth is currently 1,350,543,306.0 kilometers, equivalent to 9.0278243914 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 15m 4.928s to travel from comet 378P/McNaught and arrive to us.

1,350,543,306.0
9.0278243914
1h 15m 4.928s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 378P/McNaught 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 378P/McNaught 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 378P/McNaught 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 378P/McNaught to Earth will happen on Friday 11 July 2036 at a distance of 2.340096 Astronomical Units, or 350,073,436 kilometers:

Friday 11 July 2036
350,073,436
2.340096

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 378P/McNaught, 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 378P/McNaught as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 378P/McNaught at epoch April, 08 2020 00:00 UTC (JD: 2458948.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.46856842
Orbit inclination i 19.10948556°
Perihelion distance q 3.38036467 AU
505,695,358 km
Aphelion distance Q 9.34136591 AU
1,397,448,452 km
Semi-major axis a 6.36086529 AU
951,571,905 km
Orbital period period 16.0429 years
5,859.6641 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp October 21, 2020
2,459,144.1156 JD
Next perihelion transit November 6, 2036
2,465,003.7797 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 194.17868392222°
Longitude of the ascending node node 94.51542868286°
Mean anomaly M 347.98197242838°
Mean motion n 0.06143697°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 378P/McNaught 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 378P/McNaught 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 28 2025 05h 10m 53s +17° 24’ 19” 21.08 Taurus
Jun 29 2025 05h 11m 25s +17° 25’ 20” 21.08 Taurus
Jun 30 2025 05h 11m 58s +17° 26’ 20” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 01 2025 05h 12m 30s +17° 27’ 18” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 02 2025 05h 13m 01s +17° 28’ 15” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 03 2025 05h 13m 33s +17° 29’ 12” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 04 2025 05h 14m 05s +17° 30’ 08” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 05 2025 05h 14m 36s +17° 31’ 02” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 06 2025 05h 15m 08s +17° 31’ 56” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 07 2025 05h 15m 39s +17° 32’ 48” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 08 2025 05h 16m 10s +17° 33’ 39” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 09 2025 05h 16m 42s +17° 34’ 29” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 10 2025 05h 17m 12s +17° 35’ 19” 21.07 Taurus
Jul 11 2025 05h 17m 43s +17° 36’ 07” 21.07 Taurus

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