Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is a short-period comet with an orbital period of 6.3 years. It was first discovered by Jean-Louis Pons on 12 June 1819 and rediscovered later by Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke on 9 March 1858. The comet has a perihelion distance of about 1.2 astronomical units and an aphelion distance of about 5.6 astronomical units.

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is currently in the constellation of Taurus.

The current Right Ascension of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is 04h 28m 29s and the Declination is +13° 13’ 43” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is 23.07 (JPL).

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.

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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.

Available Resources

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

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke from Earth is currently 904,484,217 kilometers, equivalent to 6.046104 Astronomical Units. Light takes 50 minutes and 17.0346 seconds to travel from Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke to Earth

Between 1 January 1900 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke to Earth happens on Mon Jun 27 1927 at a distance of 0.039404 Astronomical Units, or 5,894,775 kilometers:

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

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 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.

Visualization of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke 15 Days Ephemeris

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

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 May 21	04h 21m 57s	+12° 50’ 00”	23.05	Taurus
2023 May 22	04h 22m 46s	+12° 53’ 07”	23.05	Taurus
2023 May 23	04h 23m 35s	+12° 56’ 09”	23.06	Taurus
2023 May 24	04h 24m 24s	+12° 59’ 12”	23.06	Taurus
2023 May 25	04h 25m 14s	+13° 02’ 11”	23.06	Taurus
2023 May 26	04h 26m 03s	+13° 05’ 08”	23.06	Taurus
2023 May 27	04h 26m 52s	+13° 08’ 03”	23.07	Taurus
2023 May 28	04h 27m 41s	+13° 10’ 54”	23.07	Taurus
2023 May 29	04h 28m 29s	+13° 13’ 45”	23.07	Taurus
2023 May 30	04h 29m 18s	+13° 16’ 33”	23.07	Taurus
2023 May 31	04h 30m 07s	+13° 19’ 20”	23.08	Taurus
2023 Jun 01	04h 30m 56s	+13° 22’ 05”	23.08	Taurus
2023 Jun 02	04h 31m 45s	+13° 24’ 46”	23.08	Taurus
2023 Jun 03	04h 32m 35s	+13° 27’ 25”	23.08	Taurus