Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:47 
Transit: 12:58 
Sunset: 21:10
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
wb_twilight   (Nautical Twilight)  
Planets Visible Tonight
Planets Visible Tonight
 • 
What's Visible Now • Tonight Sky
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 7:34 | Tran: 14:41 | Set: 21:49
Alt: -5.76°   Az: 300.18°   Direction: West-North-West

Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Gemini, at a distance of 1,702,055,527.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 06h 39m 04s and the Declination is +13° 28’ 20” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) is 31.26 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) in Gemini on June, 05 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) in Gemini on June, 05 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)
RA: 06h 37m 38s
Dec: +13° 29’ 45”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS). Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

06h 39m 04s
+13° 28’ 20”
07h 51m 15s
14h 30m 20s

J2000

06h 37m 38s
+13° 29’ 45”

Additional Information

Gemini
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
31.26

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/2021 K1 (ATLAS) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 76.5°
Max altitude: 52.0°
Azimuth: 283.5°
  • C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, C/2021 K1 (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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) from Earth is currently 1,702,055,527.0 kilometers, equivalent to 11.3775384572 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 34m 37.446s to travel from Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) and arrive to us.

1,702,055,527.0
11.3775384572
1h 34m 37.446s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet C/2021 K1 (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/2021 K1 (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/2021 K1 (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/2021 K1 (ATLAS) to Earth happens on Sat Aug 15 2065 at a distance of 1.477420 Astronomical Units, or 221,018,939 kilometers:

Sat Aug 15 2065
221,018,939
1.477420

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/2021 K1 (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/2021 K1 (ATLAS) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) at epoch 18 August 2021 00:00 UTC (JD: 2459445.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.80399384
Orbit inclination i 16.27606739°
Perihelion distance q 2.49783183 AU
373,670,323 km
Aphelion distance Q 22.98944647 AU
3,439,172,247 km
Semi-major axis a 12.74363915 AU
1,906,421,285 km
Orbital period period 45.4934 years
16,616.4645 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2021-May-04 13:50:34
2,459,339.0768 JD
Next perihelion transit 2066-Nov-01 00:59
2,475,955.5413 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 184.30382098948°
Longitude of the ascending node node 140.90565587147°
Mean anomaly M 2.3056864316312°
Mean motion n 0.02166526°/day
2h1>Orbit Visualization
Orbit Diagram of Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS)
View Comet C/2021 K1 (ATLAS) in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet C/2021 K1 (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
2025 May 29 06h 36m 01s +13° 26’ 29” 31.22 Gemini
2025 May 30 06h 36m 24s +13° 26’ 46” 31.22 Gemini
2025 May 31 06h 36m 47s +13° 27’ 03” 31.23 Gemini
2025 Jun 01 06h 37m 10s +13° 27’ 19” 31.23 Gemini
2025 Jun 02 06h 37m 33s +13° 27’ 33” 31.24 Gemini
2025 Jun 03 06h 37m 56s +13° 27’ 47” 31.25 Gemini
2025 Jun 04 06h 38m 20s +13° 28’ 00” 31.25 Gemini
2025 Jun 05 06h 38m 43s +13° 28’ 11” 31.26 Gemini
2025 Jun 06 06h 39m 07s +13° 28’ 21” 31.26 Gemini
2025 Jun 07 06h 39m 31s +13° 28’ 30” 31.27 Gemini
2025 Jun 08 06h 39m 55s +13° 28’ 38” 31.28 Gemini
2025 Jun 09 06h 40m 19s +13° 28’ 45” 31.28 Gemini
2025 Jun 10 06h 40m 43s +13° 28’ 51” 31.29 Gemini
2025 Jun 11 06h 41m 07s +13° 28’ 55” 31.29 Gemini

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive