Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Kryvichy, Belarus Kryvichy, Belarus  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Minsk
Sunrise: 4:54 
Transit: 13:16 
Sunset: 21:38
wb_twilight   (Astronomical Twilight)  
Planets Visible Tonight
Planets Visible Tonight
 • 
What's Visible Now • The Sky Tonight
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 22:03 | Tran: 7:06 | Set: 16:05
Alt: 17.15°   Az: 67.59°   Direction: East-North-East

Comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Pisces, at a distance of 1,460,173,639.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 01h 24m 38s and the Declination is +26° 49’ 09” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS), computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 19.89.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) in the constellation of Pisces on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) in the constellation of Pisces 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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) 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.

C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS)
RA: 01h 23m 13s
Dec: +26° 41’ 11”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

01h 24m 38s
+26° 49’ 09”
17h 27m 16s
18h 51m 55s

J2000

01h 23m 13s
+26° 41’ 11”

Additional Information

Pisces
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
19.89

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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) from Kryvichy, Belarus (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Minsk):

Azimuth: 63.2°
Max altitude: 62.1°
Azimuth: 296.8°

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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) from Earth is currently 1,460,173,639.0 kilometers, equivalent to 9.7606579035 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 21m 10.615s to travel from comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) and arrive to us.

1,460,173,639.0
9.7606579035
1h 21m 10.615s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) 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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) 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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) 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, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) to Earth happened on Sunday 20 March 2022 at a distance of 2.919558 Astronomical Units, or 436,759,614 kilometers:

Sunday 20 March 2022
436,759,614
2.919558

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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS), 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 C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) at epoch September, 02 2022 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459825.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.99700512
Orbit inclination i 101.29776629°
Perihelion distance q 3.13248975 AU
468,613,798 km
Aphelion distance Q 2,088.76402325 AU
312,474,650,899 km
Semi-major axis a 1,045.94825650 AU
156,471,632,348 km
Orbital period period 33,827.7804 years
12,355,596.7952 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp June 17, 2022
2,459,748.1987 JD
Next perihelion transit December 8, 35850
14,815,344.9939 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 266.10580956237°
Longitude of the ascending node node 26.515016031378°
Mean anomaly M 0.0022522968642895°
Mean motion n 0.00002914°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/2020 Y2 (ATLAS) 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 C/2020 Y2 (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
Jul 07 2025 01h 25m 02s +26° 24’ 02” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 08 2025 01h 25m 01s +26° 27’ 18” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 09 2025 01h 24m 58s +26° 30’ 33” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 10 2025 01h 24m 56s +26° 33’ 46” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 11 2025 01h 24m 53s +26° 36’ 58” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 12 2025 01h 24m 50s +26° 40’ 08” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 13 2025 01h 24m 46s +26° 43’ 17” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 14 2025 01h 24m 42s +26° 46’ 24” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 15 2025 01h 24m 37s +26° 49’ 28” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 16 2025 01h 24m 32s +26° 52’ 32” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 17 2025 01h 24m 27s +26° 55’ 33” 19.89 Pisces
Jul 18 2025 01h 24m 21s +26° 58’ 33” 19.88 Pisces
Jul 19 2025 01h 24m 15s +27° 01’ 30” 19.88 Pisces
Jul 20 2025 01h 24m 08s +27° 04’ 26” 19.88 Pisces

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive