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.

Find it in the Sky

Chose a date & time and view the position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke in the sky on our interactive planetarium.

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Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke

Above the horizon. Rise: 4:54 | Tran: 13:20 | Set: 21:47

Alt: 45.47° Az: 106.39° Direction: East-South-East

Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke is in the constellation of Gemini, at a distance of 930,928,207.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 06h 48m 13s and the Declination is +25° 45’ 13” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 23.20).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

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Star map showing the position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke in the constellation of Gemini on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.

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Star map showing the position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke in the constellation of Gemini 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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.

7P/Pons-Winnecke
RA: 06h 46m 38s
Dec: +25° 46’ 58”

Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 06h 48m 13s

Declination +25° 45’ 13”

Hour Angle 20h 46m 41s

Sidereal Time 03h 34m 54s

J2000

Right Ascension 06h 46m 38s

Declination +25° 46’ 58”

Additional Information

Constellation Gemini

Observed Magnitude (COBS) n/a

Coma Diameter (COBS) n/a

Tail Length (COBS) n/a

Observation Date (COBS) n/a

Predicted Magnitude (JPL) 23.20

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 7P/Pons-Winnecke from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 64.2° RISE 4:54

Max altitude: 64.3° TRANSIT 13:20

Azimuth: 295.8° SET 21:47

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 7P/Pons-Winnecke from Earth is currently 930,928,207.0 kilometers, equivalent to 6.2228707043 Astronomical Units. Light takes 51m 45.242s to travel from comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke and arrive to us.

Distance Km 930,928,207.0

Distance AU 6.2228707043

Light Travel Time 51m 45.242s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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, 1900 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke to Earth happened on Monday 27 June 1927 at a distance of 0.039404 Astronomical Units, or 5,894,775 kilometers:

Date Monday 27 June 1927

Distance Kilometers 5,894,775

Distance AU 0.039404

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 7P/Pons-Winnecke, 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke at epoch April, 24 2015 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457137.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element	Symbol	Value
Orbit eccentricity	e	0.63757124
Orbit inclination	i	22.33463826°
Perihelion distance	q	1.23919869 AU 185,381,486 km
Aphelion distance	Q	5.59910354 AU 837,613,969 km
Semi-major axis	a	3.41915111 AU 511,497,727 km
Orbital period	period	6.3225 years 2,309.2761 days
Date of perihelion transit	Tp	January 30, 2015 2,457,053.0275 JD
Next perihelion transit		May 27, 2021 2,459,362.3036 JD
Argument of perihelion	peri	172.50553360981°
Longitude of the ascending node	node	93.415610189417°
Mean anomaly	M	13.168673787644°
Mean motion	n	0.15589301°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 7P/Pons-Winnecke 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 21 2025	06h 41m 51s	+25° 45’ 11”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 22 2025	06h 42m 42s	+25° 45’ 13”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 23 2025	06h 43m 34s	+25° 45’ 15”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 24 2025	06h 44m 25s	+25° 45’ 16”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 25 2025	06h 45m 17s	+25° 45’ 17”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 26 2025	06h 46m 09s	+25° 45’ 16”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 27 2025	06h 47m 01s	+25° 45’ 15”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 28 2025	06h 47m 53s	+25° 45’ 14”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 29 2025	06h 48m 45s	+25° 45’ 11”	23.20	Gemini
Jun 30 2025	06h 49m 37s	+25° 45’ 07”	23.19	Gemini
Jul 01 2025	06h 50m 29s	+25° 45’ 03”	23.19	Gemini
Jul 02 2025	06h 51m 21s	+25° 44’ 58”	23.19	Gemini
Jul 03 2025	06h 52m 13s	+25° 44’ 52”	23.19	Gemini
Jul 04 2025	06h 53m 06s	+25° 44’ 46”	23.19	Gemini

Ephemeris Calculator

Compute the position of comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke for any date and time between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 2099 and display the results on an interactive star map.