Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:58 
Transit: 12:59 
Sunset: 20:00
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
sunny   (Daytime)  
What's Visible Now • Tonight Timeline
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet 496P/Hill

Above the horizon.  Rise: 7:16 | Tran: 17:37 | Set: 3:59
Alt: 49.10°   Az: 90.52°   Direction: East

Comet 496P/Hill is in the constellation of Auriga, at a distance of 268,679,760.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 06h 25m 27s and the Declination is +35° 59’ 45” (apparent coordinates). The latest observed magnitude of Comet 496P/Hill is 15.7 (data provided by COBS).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 496P/Hill in Auriga on April, 18 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 496P/Hill in Auriga on April, 18 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 496P/Hill is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

496P/Hill
RA: 06h 23m 45s
Dec: +36° 00’ 39”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 496P/Hill. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 496P/Hill?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 496P/Hill in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

06h 25m 27s
+35° 59’ 45”
20h 23m 55s
02h 49m 23s

J2000

06h 23m 45s
+36° 00’ 39”

Additional Information

Auriga
15.7
1.7'
n/a
2025-04-16
17.12

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 496P/Hill from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 54.0°
Max altitude: 74.5°
Azimuth: 306.0°
  • 496P/Hill is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the East direction at an altitude of 49.10° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 496P/Hill 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 496P/Hill from Earth is currently 268,679,760.0 kilometers, equivalent to 1.7960132637 Astronomical Units. Light takes 14m 56.219s to travel from Comet 496P/Hill and arrive to us.

268,679,760.0
1.7960132637
14m 56.219s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 496P/Hill 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 496P/Hill 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 496P/Hill 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 496P/Hill to Earth happens on Thu Dec 6 2068 at a distance of 0.927059 Astronomical Units, or 138,686,054 kilometers:

Thu Dec 6 2068
138,686,054
0.927059

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 496P/Hill, 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 496P/Hill as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 496P/Hill at epoch 15 November 2020 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459169.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.73321793
Orbit inclination i 14.86604322°
Perihelion distance q 1.62060311 AU
242,438,775 km
Aphelion distance Q 10.52866229 AU
1,575,065,463 km
Semi-major axis a 6.07463270 AU
908,752,119 km
Orbital period period 14.9723 years
5,468.6290 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2025-Mar-12 16:33:03
2,460,747.1896 JD
Next perihelion transit 2040-Mar-02 07:38
2,466,215.8186 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 41.934457354985°
Longitude of the ascending node node 64.094446808482°
Mean anomaly M 256.14064855333°
Mean motion n 0.06583003°/day

Orbit Visualization

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 496P/Hill 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 Apr 11 05h 59m 12s +35° 55’ 39” 16.93 Auriga
2025 Apr 12 06h 02m 40s +35° 57’ 22” 16.95 Auriga
2025 Apr 13 06h 06m 09s +35° 58’ 43” 16.98 Auriga
2025 Apr 14 06h 09m 38s +35° 59’ 42” 17.00 Auriga
2025 Apr 15 06h 13m 07s +36° 00’ 20” 17.03 Auriga
2025 Apr 16 06h 16m 36s +36° 00’ 38” 17.05 Auriga
2025 Apr 17 06h 20m 05s +36° 00’ 33” 17.08 Auriga
2025 Apr 18 06h 23m 34s +36° 00’ 07” 17.11 Auriga
2025 Apr 19 06h 27m 03s +35° 59’ 21” 17.13 Auriga
2025 Apr 20 06h 30m 32s +35° 58’ 14” 17.16 Auriga
2025 Apr 21 06h 34m 01s +35° 56’ 45” 17.19 Auriga
2025 Apr 22 06h 37m 30s +35° 54’ 56” 17.22 Auriga
2025 Apr 23 06h 40m 59s +35° 52’ 46” 17.24 Auriga
2025 Apr 24 06h 44m 26s +35° 50’ 17” 17.27 Auriga

Additional Resources