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Comets » 

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

Below the horizon.  Rise: 9:36 | Tran: 15:21 | Set: 21:07
Alt: -29.80°   Az: 309.41°   Direction: North-West

Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is in the constellation of Cetus, at a distance of 850,239,411.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 00h 45m 08s and the Declination is -02° 36’ 56” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is 23.85 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in Cetus on February, 10 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in Cetus on February, 10 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak
RA: 00h 43m 51s
Dec: -02° 45’ 10”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

00h 45m 08s
-02° 36’ 56”
09h 11m 22s
09h 56m 30s

J2000

00h 43m 51s
-02° 45’ 10”

Additional Information

Cetus
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
23.85

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

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 92.6°
Max altitude: 35.9°
Azimuth: 267.4°
  • 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak from Earth is currently 850,239,411.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.6834994176 Astronomical Units. Light takes 47m 16.093s to travel from Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak and arrive to us.

850,239,411.0
5.6834994176
47m 16.093s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 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 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 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 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak to Earth happens on Sat Apr 1 2017 at a distance of 0.141998 Astronomical Units, or 21,242,660 kilometers:

Sat Apr 1 2017
21,242,660
0.141998

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak, 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 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak at epoch 13 April 2017 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457857.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.66127330
Orbit inclination i 9.22846574°
Perihelion distance q 1.04504276 AU
156,336,171 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.12537585 AU
766,745,315 km
Semi-major axis a 3.08520930 AU
461,540,743 km
Orbital period period 5.4192 years
1,979.3627 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2017-Apr-12 18:04:18
2,457,856.2530 JD
Next perihelion transit 2022-Sep-13 02:46
2,459,835.6157 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 62.16674348896°
Longitude of the ascending node node 141.05897236084°
Mean anomaly M 0.22680168832125°
Mean motion n 0.18187673°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak
View Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak 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
2025 Feb 03 00h 41m 12s -03° 07’ 26” 23.81 Cetus
2025 Feb 04 00h 41m 45s -03° 03’ 11” 23.82 Cetus
2025 Feb 05 00h 42m 17s -02° 58’ 53” 23.82 Cetus
2025 Feb 06 00h 42m 51s -02° 54’ 33” 23.83 Cetus
2025 Feb 07 00h 43m 24s -02° 50’ 12” 23.83 Cetus
2025 Feb 08 00h 43m 58s -02° 45’ 50” 23.84 Cetus
2025 Feb 09 00h 44m 32s -02° 41’ 27” 23.84 Cetus
2025 Feb 10 00h 45m 07s -02° 37’ 03” 23.85 Cetus
2025 Feb 11 00h 45m 42s -02° 32’ 37” 23.85 Cetus
2025 Feb 12 00h 46m 17s -02° 28’ 10” 23.86 Cetus
2025 Feb 13 00h 46m 53s -02° 23’ 42” 23.87 Cetus
2025 Feb 14 00h 47m 29s -02° 19’ 13” 23.87 Cetus
2025 Feb 15 00h 48m 05s -02° 14’ 43” 23.88 Cetus
2025 Feb 16 00h 48m 42s -02° 10’ 12” 23.88 Cetus

Additional Resources