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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:01  ☀️ Transit: 12:06  🌅 Sunset: 18:11

Comet 398P/Boattini

Comet 398P/Boattini is currently in the constellation of Serpens. The current Right Ascension of Comet 398P/Boattini is 17h 54m 50s and the Declination is -14° 37’ 34” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 398P/Boattini is 25.82 (JPL).

17h 54m 50s
-14° 37’ 34”
Serpens
25.82

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 398P/Boattini from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 104.6°
Max altitude: 23.9°
Azimuth: 255.4°
  • 398P/Boattini is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
  • Right now it is placed in the South-South-East direction at an altitude of 21° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 398P/Boattini 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 398P/Boattini Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Comet 398P/Boattini 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 398P/Boattini in Serpens on March, 21 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Map showing Comet 398P/Boattini in Serpens on March, 21 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 398P/Boattini is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

398P/Boattini
RA: 17h 54m 50s
Dec: -14° 37’ 34”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 398P/Boattini
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Comet 398P/Boattini?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 398P/Boattini in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 398P/Boattini Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 398P/Boattini from Earth is currently 701,356,352 kilometers, equivalent to 4.688278 Astronomical Units. Light takes 38 minutes and 59.4730 seconds to travel from Comet 398P/Boattini and arrive to us.

701,356,352
4.688278
38 minutes and 59.4730 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 398P/Boattini 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 398P/Boattini 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 398P/Boattini from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 398P/Boattini to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 398P/Boattini to Earth happens on Wed Dec 23 2020 at a distance of 0.375438 Astronomical Units, or 56,164,772 kilometers:

Wed Dec 23 2020
56,164,772
0.375438

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

Comet 398P/Boattini Brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 398P/Boattini is 25.82.

25.82
-
-

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 398P/Boattini, 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 398P/Boattini as a function of time

Comet 398P/Boattini Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 398P/Boattini at epoch 16 December 2020 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459200.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.58256817
Orbit inclination i 11.01527054°
Perihelion distance q 1.30569341 AU
195,328,954 km
Aphelion distance Q 4.95014681 AU
740,531,424 km
Semi-major axis a 3.12792011 AU
467,930,189 km
Orbital period period 5.5321 years
2,020.6072 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2020-Dec-26 17:51:58
2,459,210.2444 JD
Next perihelion transit 2026-Jul-09 08:26
2,461,230.8517 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 320.23471164812°
Longitude of the ascending node node 127.46296718978°
Mean anomaly M 358.26389165887°
Mean motion n 0.17816426°/day

Visualization of Comet 398P/Boattini Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 398P/Boattini with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 398P/Boattini 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 398P/Boattini
View Comet 398P/Boattini in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Comet 398P/Boattini 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 398P/Boattini computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 398P/Boattini in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2023 Mar 14 17h 52m 49s -14° 46’ 50” 25.86 Serpens
2023 Mar 15 17h 53m 08s -14° 45’ 34” 25.85 Serpens
2023 Mar 16 17h 53m 26s -14° 44’ 18” 25.85 Serpens
2023 Mar 17 17h 53m 44s -14° 43’ 01” 25.84 Serpens
2023 Mar 18 17h 54m 02s -14° 41’ 44” 25.84 Serpens
2023 Mar 19 17h 54m 18s -14° 40’ 27” 25.83 Serpens
2023 Mar 20 17h 54m 33s -14° 39’ 07” 25.83 Serpens
2023 Mar 21 17h 54m 47s -14° 37’ 48” 25.82 Serpens
2023 Mar 22 17h 55m 00s -14° 36’ 28” 25.82 Serpens
2023 Mar 23 17h 55m 14s -14° 35’ 07” 25.81 Serpens
2023 Mar 24 17h 55m 26s -14° 33’ 46” 25.81 Serpens
2023 Mar 25 17h 55m 36s -14° 32’ 23” 25.80 Serpens
2023 Mar 26 17h 55m 47s -14° 31’ 00” 25.80 Serpens
2023 Mar 27 17h 55m 57s -14° 29’ 39” 25.79 Serpens