Comet 96P/Machholz

Comet 96P/Machholz is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet 96P/Machholz is 18h 20m 09s and the Declination is -36° 24’ 14” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 96P/Machholz is 26.02 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 96P/Machholz [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 96P/Machholz available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 96P/Machholz?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 96P/Machholz from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 96P/Machholz rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 96P/Machholz?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 96P/Machholz orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 96P/Machholz with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 96P/Machholz for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 96P/Machholz in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 96P/Machholz with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 96P/Machholz is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 96P/Machholz?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 96P/Machholz in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 96P/Machholz Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 96P/Machholz from Earth is currently 935,120,779 kilometers, equivalent to 6.250896 Astronomical Units. Light takes 51 minutes and 59.2272 seconds to travel from Comet 96P/Machholz and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 96P/Machholz 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 96P/Machholz from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 96P/Machholz to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 96P/Machholz to Earth happens on Fri Jun 16 2028 at a distance of 0.319897 Astronomical Units, or 47,855,859 kilometers:

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

Comet 96P/Machholz brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 96P/Machholz is 26.02.

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 96P/Machholz, 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 96P/Machholz rise and set times

Today's Comet 96P/Machholz rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 96P/Machholz 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 96P/Machholz Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 96P/Machholz with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 96P/Machholz 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 96P/Machholz 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 96P/Machholz computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 96P/Machholz in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Oct 18	18h 17m 33s	-36° 34’ 44”	26.00	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 19	18h 17m 53s	-36° 33’ 14”	26.00	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 20	18h 18m 12s	-36° 31’ 45”	26.00	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 21	18h 18m 33s	-36° 30’ 16”	26.01	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 22	18h 18m 56s	-36° 28’ 49”	26.01	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 23	18h 19m 18s	-36° 27’ 21”	26.02	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 24	18h 19m 41s	-36° 25’ 55”	26.02	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 25	18h 20m 04s	-36° 24’ 30”	26.02	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 26	18h 20m 29s	-36° 23’ 07”	26.03	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 27	18h 20m 53s	-36° 21’ 43”	26.03	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 28	18h 21m 19s	-36° 20’ 21”	26.03	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 29	18h 21m 45s	-36° 18’ 59”	26.04	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 30	18h 22m 12s	-36° 17’ 38”	26.04	Sagittarius
2020 Oct 31	18h 22m 39s	-36° 16’ 17”	26.05	Sagittarius