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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:47 
Transit: 13:03 
Sunset: 21:19
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Comets » 

Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Below the horizon.  Rise: 14:45 | Tran: 20:27 | Set: 2:13
Alt: -33.30°   Az: 316.02°   Direction: North-West

Comet 46P/Wirtanen is in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 490,160,540.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 14h 00m 04s and the Declination is -03° 08’ 54” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 46P/Wirtanen, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 21.91).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 46P/Wirtanen in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 46P/Wirtanen in the constellation of Virgo on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 46P/Wirtanen in the constellation of Virgo on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of comet 46P/Wirtanen against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

46P/Wirtanen
RA: 13h 58m 44s
Dec: -03° 01’ 31”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 46P/Wirtanen. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

14h 00m 04s
-03° 08’ 54”
09h 37m 49s
23h 37m 54s

J2000

13h 58m 44s
-03° 01’ 31”

Additional Information

Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
21.91

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

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of comet 46P/Wirtanen from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 93.2°
Max altitude: 35.3°
Azimuth: 266.9°

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 46P/Wirtanen from Earth is currently 490,160,540.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.2765208335 Astronomical Units. Light takes 27m 15.000s to travel from comet 46P/Wirtanen and arrive to us.

490,160,540.0
3.2765208335
27m 15.000s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 46P/Wirtanen from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of comet 46P/Wirtanen from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 46P/Wirtanen from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet 46P/Wirtanen to Earth happened on Monday 17 December 2018 at a distance of 0.077508 Astronomical Units, or 11,595,104 kilometers:

Monday 17 December 2018
11,595,104
0.077508

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

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of comet 46P/Wirtanen, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of comet 46P/Wirtanen as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 46P/Wirtanen at epoch December, 12 2018 00:00 UTC (JD: 2458465.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.65875501
Orbit inclination i 11.74754876°
Perihelion distance q 1.05535538 AU
157,878,919 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.12996837 AU
767,432,346 km
Semi-major axis a 3.09266187 AU
462,655,632 km
Orbital period period 5.4388 years
1,986.5390 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp December 12, 2018
2,458,465.4312 JD
Next perihelion transit May 21, 2024
2,460,451.9701 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 356.34107185707°
Longitude of the ascending node node 82.157633924941°
Mean anomaly M 0.012473510012316°
Mean motion n 0.18121970°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 46P/Wirtanen relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
Jun 22 2025 14h 00m 39s -02° 46’ 12” 21.80 Virgo
Jun 23 2025 14h 00m 31s -02° 49’ 06” 21.82 Virgo
Jun 24 2025 14h 00m 24s -02° 52’ 05” 21.83 Virgo
Jun 25 2025 14h 00m 18s -02° 55’ 09” 21.85 Virgo
Jun 26 2025 14h 00m 13s -02° 58’ 17” 21.86 Virgo
Jun 27 2025 14h 00m 09s -03° 01’ 31” 21.88 Virgo
Jun 28 2025 14h 00m 06s -03° 04’ 49” 21.89 Virgo
Jun 29 2025 14h 00m 04s -03° 08’ 11” 21.91 Virgo
Jun 30 2025 14h 00m 04s -03° 11’ 37” 21.92 Virgo
Jul 01 2025 14h 00m 04s -03° 15’ 08” 21.94 Virgo
Jul 02 2025 14h 00m 05s -03° 18’ 42” 21.95 Virgo
Jul 03 2025 14h 00m 07s -03° 22’ 21” 21.97 Virgo
Jul 04 2025 14h 00m 10s -03° 26’ 03” 21.98 Virgo
Jul 05 2025 14h 00m 14s -03° 29’ 49” 22.00 Virgo

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