We use cookies to deliver essential features and to measure their performance. Learn more.
Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 6:38 
Transit: 12:54 
Sunset: 19:10
sunny   (Daytime)  
What's Visible Now • Tonight Timeline
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 20.59°   Az: 31.13°   Direction: North-North-East

Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Bootes, at a distance of 1,138,399,278.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 14h 14m 41s and the Declination is +50° 44’ 06” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is 19.25 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder chart of C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) in Bootes on September,16 2024
Map showing Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) in Bootes on September, 16 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

14h 14m 41s
+50° 44’ 06”
15h 19m 29s
05h 34m 11s

J2000

14h 13m 47s
+50° 50’ 58”

Additional Information

Bootes
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
19.25

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

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Today Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is circumpolar and transits at 14:30 UTC reaching a maximum altitude of 89.3°.
  • C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the North-North-East direction at an altitude of 20.59° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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.

Finder Charts

Finder chart of C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)
Sky map showing Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) in Bootes on September, 16 2024. Field of view: 10x6 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)
RA: 14h 13m 47s
Dec: +50° 50’ 58”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS). Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) from Earth is currently 1,138,399,278.0 kilometers, equivalent to 7.6097291537 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 3m 17.291s to travel from Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) and arrive to us.

1,138,399,278.0
7.6097291537
1h 3m 17.291s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) 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.

Chart of the distance of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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/2020 R7 (ATLAS) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) to Earth happens on Fri Jul 15 2022 at a distance of 2.181064 Astronomical Units, or 326,282,504 kilometers:

Fri Jul 15 2022
326,282,504
2.181064

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS), 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.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) at epoch 15 February 2022 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459626.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 1.00001380
Orbit inclination i 114.89152319°
Perihelion distance q 2.95613077 AU
442,230,870 km
Aphelion distance Q n.a.
Semi-major axis a n.a.
Orbital period period n.a.
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2022-Sep-16 04:52:09
2,459,838.7029 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 347.82553830029°
Longitude of the ascending node node 268.28026251837°
Mean anomaly M -2.1102646001987E-6°
Mean motion n 0.00000001°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS)
View Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet C/2020 R7 (ATLAS) 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
2024 Sep 09 14h 11m 59s +51° 10’ 46” 19.22 Bootes
2024 Sep 10 14h 12m 20s +51° 06’ 51” 19.22 Bootes
2024 Sep 11 14h 12m 41s +51° 03’ 01” 19.23 Bootes
2024 Sep 12 14h 13m 03s +50° 59’ 14” 19.23 Bootes
2024 Sep 13 14h 13m 26s +50° 55’ 32” 19.23 Bootes
2024 Sep 14 14h 13m 48s +50° 51’ 56” 19.24 Bootes
2024 Sep 15 14h 14m 12s +50° 48’ 23” 19.24 Bootes
2024 Sep 16 14h 14m 35s +50° 44’ 56” 19.25 Bootes
2024 Sep 17 14h 14m 59s +50° 41’ 32” 19.25 Bootes
2024 Sep 18 14h 15m 24s +50° 38’ 14” 19.26 Bootes
2024 Sep 19 14h 15m 49s +50° 34’ 59” 19.26 Bootes
2024 Sep 20 14h 16m 14s +50° 31’ 51” 19.26 Bootes
2024 Sep 21 14h 16m 40s +50° 28’ 46” 19.27 Bootes
2024 Sep 22 14h 17m 06s +50° 25’ 47” 19.27 Bootes

Additional Resources