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 40P/Vaisala 1

Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 is currently in the constellation of Cetus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 is 02h 01m 56s and the Declination is +01° 52’ 18” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 is 26.52 (JPL).

02h 01m 56s
+01° 52’ 18”
Cetus
26.52

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 88.1°
Max altitude: 40.4°
Azimuth: 271.9°
  • 40P/Vaisala 1 is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
  • Given its current magnitude, 40P/Vaisala 1 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 40P/Vaisala 1 Position and Finder Charts

Below we provide Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 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 40P/Vaisala 1 in Cetus on March, 26 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Map showing Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 in Cetus 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 40P/Vaisala 1 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

40P/Vaisala 1
RA: 02h 01m 56s
Dec: +01° 52’ 18”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 40P/Vaisala 1
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Comet 40P/Vaisala 1?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 from Earth is currently 1,093,386,185 kilometers, equivalent to 7.308835 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 47.1437 seconds to travel from Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 and arrive to us.

1,093,386,185
7.308835
1 hours, 47.1437 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 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 40P/Vaisala 1 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 40P/Vaisala 1 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 to Earth happens on Mon Mar 24 2070 at a distance of 0.879460 Astronomical Units, or 131,565,362 kilometers:

Mon Mar 24 2070
131,565,362
0.879460

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

Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 Brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 is 26.52.

26.52
-
-

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 40P/Vaisala 1, 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 40P/Vaisala 1 as a function of time

Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 at epoch 27 August 2015 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457262.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.63161520
Orbit inclination i 11.49264282°
Perihelion distance q 1.81977116 AU
272,233,891 km
Aphelion distance Q 8.05995877 AU
1,205,752,672 km
Semi-major axis a 4.93986496 AU
738,993,281 km
Orbital period period 10.9795 years
4,010.2463 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2014-Nov-15 20:12:59
2,456,977.3424 JD
Next perihelion transit 2025-Nov-08 02:07
2,460,987.5886 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 47.288855021729°
Longitude of the ascending node node 133.84016785708°
Mean anomaly M 25.598615967354°
Mean motion n 0.08977005°/day

Visualization of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 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 40P/Vaisala 1
View Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 40P/Vaisala 1 in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2023 Mar 19 01h 57m 57s +01° 25’ 33” 26.54 Cetus
2023 Mar 20 01h 58m 31s +01° 29’ 21” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 21 01h 59m 03s +01° 33’ 08” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 22 01h 59m 38s +01° 36’ 56” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 23 02h 00m 11s +01° 40’ 42” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 24 02h 00m 46s +01° 44’ 29” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 25 02h 01m 19s +01° 48’ 15” 26.53 Cetus
2023 Mar 26 02h 01m 54s +01° 52’ 01” 26.52 Cetus
2023 Mar 27 02h 02m 29s +01° 55’ 47” 26.52 Cetus
2023 Mar 28 02h 03m 03s +01° 59’ 32” 26.52 Cetus
2023 Mar 29 02h 03m 38s +02° 03’ 19” 26.52 Cetus
2023 Mar 30 02h 04m 14s +02° 07’ 03” 26.52 Cetus
2023 Mar 31 02h 04m 50s +02° 10’ 48” 26.51 Cetus
2023 Apr 01 02h 05m 26s +02° 14’ 30” 26.51 Cetus