Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) Position
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is currently in the constellation of Orion. The current Right Ascension is 06h 00m 06s and the Declination is +20° 26’ 01”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see fuillscreen Online Planetarium)
Field of view: 60x30 degrees
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Hihgher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is right now (view fullscreen)
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
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Also check out Where is Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) Distance
The distance of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) from Earth is currently 1,356,852,556 kilometers, equivalent to 9.069999 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 15 minutes and 25.9730 seconds to travel from Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) 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 C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) to Earth
Between January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) to Earth happens on Wed Apr 19 2017 at a distance of 1.17846421 Astronomical Units, or 176,295,737 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) brightness
The current visual magnitude of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is 22.27.
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 behvior 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 C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS), 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 C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) 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 C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) touches the horizon, consideting the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmoshpere conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) at epoch 28 April 2017 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457872.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.99727957 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 6.34864358° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 1.04213208 AU 155,900,740 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
765.10939946 AU 114,458,737,241 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
383.07576577 AU 57,307,318,991 km |
| Orbital period | period |
7,497.8200 years 2,738,580.0777 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 2017-May-09 22:39:08 2,457,883.4438 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 9515-May-03 00:31 5,196,463.5216 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 68.192194610258° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 235.2217941258° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 359.99856137694° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.00013145°/day |
Visualization of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) 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!
View Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) in the 3D Solar System Simulator
Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Sep 08 | 05h 59m 04s | +20° 29’ 15” | 22.26 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 09 | 05h 59m 14s | +20° 28’ 50” | 22.26 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 10 | 05h 59m 24s | +20° 28’ 24” | 22.26 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 11 | 05h 59m 31s | +20° 27’ 59” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 12 | 05h 59m 40s | +20° 27’ 33” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 13 | 05h 59m 48s | +20° 27’ 07” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 14 | 05h 59m 56s | +20° 26’ 42” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 15 | 06h 00m 02s | +20° 26’ 16” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 16 | 06h 00m 09s | +20° 25’ 50” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 17 | 06h 00m 15s | +20° 25’ 23” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 18 | 06h 00m 20s | +20° 24’ 57” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 19 | 06h 00m 25s | +20° 24’ 30” | 22.27 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 20 | 06h 00m 29s | +20° 24’ 05” | 22.28 | Orion |
| 2019 Sep 21 | 06h 00m 34s | +20° 23’ 38” | 22.28 | Orion |