Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)

Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is currently in the constellation of Taurus. The current Right Ascension of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is 05h 47m 37s and the Declination is +19° 32’ 33” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is 22.59 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) [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 C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

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 from Earth

The distance of Comet C/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS) from Earth is currently 1,750,030,854 kilometers, equivalent to 11.698234 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 37 minutes and 17.4746 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 1.178464 Astronomical Units, or 176,295,709 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 22.59.

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 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

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, 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 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!

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
2021 Jan 18	05h 49m 33s	+19° 31’ 59”	22.56	Orion
2021 Jan 19	05h 49m 18s	+19° 32’ 03”	22.56	Taurus
2021 Jan 20	05h 49m 01s	+19° 32’ 07”	22.57	Taurus
2021 Jan 21	05h 48m 46s	+19° 32’ 11”	22.57	Taurus
2021 Jan 22	05h 48m 30s	+19° 32’ 16”	22.58	Taurus
2021 Jan 23	05h 48m 15s	+19° 32’ 20”	22.58	Taurus
2021 Jan 24	05h 48m 01s	+19° 32’ 25”	22.59	Taurus
2021 Jan 25	05h 47m 45s	+19° 32’ 30”	22.59	Taurus
2021 Jan 26	05h 47m 31s	+19° 32’ 35”	22.59	Taurus
2021 Jan 27	05h 47m 17s	+19° 32’ 42”	22.60	Taurus
2021 Jan 28	05h 47m 03s	+19° 32’ 48”	22.60	Taurus
2021 Jan 29	05h 46m 50s	+19° 32’ 54”	22.61	Taurus
2021 Jan 30	05h 46m 37s	+19° 33’ 02”	22.61	Taurus
2021 Jan 31	05h 46m 24s	+19° 33’ 08”	22.62	Taurus