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Comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham

Above the horizon.  Rise: 19:21 | Tran: 21:59 | Set: 0:37
Alt: 6.17°   Az: 191.83°   Direction: South-South-West

Comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham is in the constellation of Scorpius, at a distance of 738,461,640.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 16h 31m 31s and the Declination is -31° 27’ 38” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 23.95.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham in the constellation of Scorpius on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham in the constellation of Scorpius 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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.

56P/Slaughter-Burnham
RA: 16h 29m 53s
Dec: -31° 24’ 23”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 31m 31s
-31° 27’ 38”
00h 55m 17s
17h 26m 48s

J2000

16h 29m 53s
-31° 24’ 23”

Additional Information

Scorpius
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
23.95

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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 121.5°
Max altitude: 7.1°
Azimuth: 238.5°

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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham from Earth is currently 738,461,640.0 kilometers, equivalent to 4.9363111690 Astronomical Units. Light takes 41m 3.243s to travel from comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham and arrive to us.

738,461,640.0
4.9363111690
41m 3.243s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham to Earth will happen on Tuesday 25 October 2061 at a distance of 1.472337 Astronomical Units, or 220,258,529 kilometers:

Tuesday 25 October 2061
220,258,529
1.472337

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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham, 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham at epoch August, 11 2013 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456516.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.50729701
Orbit inclination i 8.14719834°
Perihelion distance q 2.50587086 AU
374,872,945 km
Aphelion distance Q 7.66606199 AU
1,146,826,553 km
Semi-major axis a 5.08596642 AU
760,849,749 km
Orbital period period 11.4701 years
4,189.4659 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp July 18, 2016
2,457,587.5821 JD
Next perihelion transit January 6, 2028
2,461,777.0480 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 44.217463287662°
Longitude of the ascending node node 346.03761392011°
Mean anomaly M 267.96211964631°
Mean motion n 0.08592981°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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 56P/Slaughter-Burnham 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
Jul 07 2025 16h 34m 51s -31° 42’ 42” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 08 2025 16h 34m 23s -31° 40’ 50” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 09 2025 16h 33m 56s -31° 38’ 57” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 10 2025 16h 33m 29s -31° 37’ 03” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 11 2025 16h 33m 04s -31° 35’ 08” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 12 2025 16h 32m 39s -31° 33’ 13” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 13 2025 16h 32m 15s -31° 31’ 18” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 14 2025 16h 31m 52s -31° 29’ 23” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 15 2025 16h 31m 29s -31° 27’ 28” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 16 2025 16h 31m 07s -31° 25’ 31” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 17 2025 16h 30m 46s -31° 23’ 36” 23.95 Scorpius
Jul 18 2025 16h 30m 25s -31° 21’ 40” 23.94 Scorpius
Jul 19 2025 16h 30m 05s -31° 19’ 45” 23.94 Scorpius
Jul 20 2025 16h 29m 46s -31° 17’ 48” 23.94 Scorpius

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