Comet 66P/du Toit

Comet 66P/du Toit is currently in the constellation of Auriga. The current Right Ascension of Comet 66P/du Toit is 05h 51m 48s and the Declination is +40° 09’ 35” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 66P/du Toit is 27.40 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 66P/du Toit [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 66P/du Toit available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 66P/du Toit?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 66P/du Toit from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 66P/du Toit rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 66P/du Toit?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 66P/du Toit orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 66P/du Toit with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 66P/du Toit for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 66P/du Toit in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 66P/du Toit with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 66P/du Toit is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 66P/du Toit?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 66P/du Toit in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 66P/du Toit Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 66P/du Toit from Earth is currently 1,392,430,753 kilometers, equivalent to 9.307825 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 17 minutes and 24.6490 seconds to travel from Comet 66P/du Toit and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 66P/du Toit 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 66P/du Toit from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 66P/du Toit to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 66P/du Toit to Earth happens on Fri May 18 2018 at a distance of 0.896003 Astronomical Units, or 134,040,105 kilometers:

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

Comet 66P/du Toit brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 66P/du Toit is 27.40.

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 66P/du Toit, 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 66P/du Toit rise and set times

Comet 66P/du Toit is circumpolar and transits at 05:12 UTC (altitude: 78.7°)

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 66P/du Toit 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 66P/du Toit Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 66P/du Toit with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 66P/du Toit 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 66P/du Toit 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 66P/du Toit computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 66P/du Toit in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2022 Sep 24	05h 51m 44s	+39° 54’ 50”	27.41	Auriga
2022 Sep 25	05h 51m 47s	+39° 56’ 44”	27.41	Auriga
2022 Sep 26	05h 51m 48s	+39° 58’ 38”	27.41	Auriga
2022 Sep 27	05h 51m 50s	+40° 00’ 33”	27.41	Auriga
2022 Sep 28	05h 51m 51s	+40° 02’ 29”	27.40	Auriga
2022 Sep 29	05h 51m 51s	+40° 04’ 23”	27.40	Auriga
2022 Sep 30	05h 51m 51s	+40° 06’ 19”	27.40	Auriga
2022 Oct 01	05h 51m 50s	+40° 08’ 13”	27.40	Auriga
2022 Oct 02	05h 51m 47s	+40° 10’ 09”	27.40	Auriga
2022 Oct 03	05h 51m 46s	+40° 12’ 03”	27.39	Auriga
2022 Oct 04	05h 51m 43s	+40° 13’ 59”	27.39	Auriga
2022 Oct 05	05h 51m 39s	+40° 15’ 52”	27.39	Auriga
2022 Oct 06	05h 51m 37s	+40° 17’ 48”	27.39	Auriga
2022 Oct 07	05h 51m 32s	+40° 19’ 41”	27.38	Auriga