Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma

Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is currently in the constellation of Virgo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is 14h 23m 30s and the Declination is +00° 37’ 48” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is 24.33 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma [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 38P/Stephan-Oterma available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma from Earth is currently 1,060,128,378 kilometers, equivalent to 7.086521 Astronomical Units. Light takes 58 minutes and 56.2076 seconds to travel from Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma 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 38P/Stephan-Oterma from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma to Earth happens on Mon Dec 17 2018 at a distance of 0.765727 Astronomical Units, or 114,551,111 kilometers:

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

Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is 24.33.

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 38P/Stephan-Oterma, 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 38P/Stephan-Oterma rise and set times

Today's Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma 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 38P/Stephan-Oterma 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 38P/Stephan-Oterma Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma 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 38P/Stephan-Oterma 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2021 May 10	14h 26m 39s	+00° 30’ 43”	24.28	Virgo
2021 May 11	14h 26m 13s	+00° 31’ 47”	24.29	Virgo
2021 May 12	14h 25m 49s	+00° 32’ 49”	24.29	Virgo
2021 May 13	14h 25m 24s	+00° 33’ 48”	24.30	Virgo
2021 May 14	14h 25m 00s	+00° 34’ 45”	24.31	Virgo
2021 May 15	14h 24m 36s	+00° 35’ 38”	24.31	Virgo
2021 May 16	14h 24m 12s	+00° 36’ 28”	24.32	Virgo
2021 May 17	14h 23m 48s	+00° 37’ 14”	24.33	Virgo
2021 May 18	14h 23m 26s	+00° 37’ 59”	24.33	Virgo
2021 May 19	14h 23m 03s	+00° 38’ 39”	24.34	Virgo
2021 May 20	14h 22m 40s	+00° 39’ 16”	24.35	Virgo
2021 May 21	14h 22m 17s	+00° 39’ 51”	24.35	Virgo
2021 May 22	14h 21m 55s	+00° 40’ 23”	24.36	Virgo
2021 May 23	14h 21m 33s	+00° 40’ 51”	24.37	Virgo