Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Comet 46P/Wirtanen is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet 46P/Wirtanen is 19h 37m 24s and the Declination is -25° 47’ 52” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 46P/Wirtanen is 22.75 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 46P/Wirtanen [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 46P/Wirtanen available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 46P/Wirtanen?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 46P/Wirtanen from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 46P/Wirtanen rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 46P/Wirtanen?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 46P/Wirtanen orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 46P/Wirtanen with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 46P/Wirtanen for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 46P/Wirtanen with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 46P/Wirtanen is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 46P/Wirtanen?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 46P/Wirtanen from Earth is currently 750,101,860 kilometers, equivalent to 5.014121 Astronomical Units. Light takes 41 minutes and 42.0705 seconds to travel from Comet 46P/Wirtanen and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 46P/Wirtanen 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 46P/Wirtanen from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 46P/Wirtanen to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 46P/Wirtanen to Earth happens on Mon Dec 17 2018 at a distance of 0.077509 Astronomical Units, or 11,595,162 kilometers:

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

Comet 46P/Wirtanen brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 46P/Wirtanen is 22.75.

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 46P/Wirtanen, 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 46P/Wirtanen rise and set times

Today's Comet 46P/Wirtanen 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 46P/Wirtanen 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 46P/Wirtanen Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 46P/Wirtanen with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 46P/Wirtanen 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 46P/Wirtanen 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 46P/Wirtanen computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 46P/Wirtanen in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Jan 22	19h 29m 00s	-25° 59’ 42”	22.79	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 23	19h 30m 10s	-25° 58’ 08”	22.79	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 24	19h 31m 18s	-25° 56’ 34”	22.78	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 25	19h 32m 26s	-25° 54’ 59”	22.78	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 26	19h 33m 34s	-25° 53’ 21”	22.77	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 27	19h 34m 42s	-25° 51’ 45”	22.77	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 28	19h 35m 52s	-25° 50’ 06”	22.76	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 29	19h 37m 00s	-25° 48’ 27”	22.75	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 30	19h 38m 08s	-25° 46’ 46”	22.75	Sagittarius
2023 Jan 31	19h 39m 15s	-25° 45’ 06”	22.74	Sagittarius
2023 Feb 01	19h 40m 23s	-25° 43’ 23”	22.74	Sagittarius
2023 Feb 02	19h 41m 32s	-25° 41’ 40”	22.73	Sagittarius
2023 Feb 03	19h 42m 41s	-25° 39’ 57”	22.72	Sagittarius
2023 Feb 04	19h 43m 48s	-25° 38’ 13”	22.72	Sagittarius