Find it in the Sky

Chose a date & time and view the position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) in the sky on our interactive planetarium.

Time: : UTC

Comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS)

Below the horizon. Rise: 7:04 | Tran: 10:11 | Set: 13:18

Alt: -55.17° Az: 169.86° Direction: South

C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) is a long-period comet discovered on June 6, 2025 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System. (ATLAS) survey. It follows a highly inclined (114°) parabolic orbit, reaching perihelion at 1.68 Astronomical Units, just beyond Mars's orbit, on Jan 12, 2026. C/2025 L1 is estimated to become brighter than magnitude 15 from November 2025 to April 2026, reaching peak of approximately magnitude 13 in mid-March 2026.

Comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) is in the constellation of Reticulum, at a distance of 413,916,640.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 03h 46m 17s and the Declination is -57° 30’ 50” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS), computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 17.60).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Loading the finder chart...

Star map showing the position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) in the constellation of Reticulum on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.

Loading the finder chart...

Star map showing the position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) in the constellation of Reticulum 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/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (ATLAS)
RA: 03h 45m 44s
Dec: -57° 35’ 32”

Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 03h 46m 17s

Declination -57° 30’ 50”

Hour Angle 12h 43m 08s

Sidereal Time 16h 29m 26s

J2000

Right Ascension 03h 45m 44s

Declination -57° 35’ 32”

Additional Information

Constellation Reticulum

Observed Magnitude (COBS) n/a

Coma Diameter (COBS) n/a

Tail Length (COBS) n/a

Observation Date (COBS) n/a

Predicted Magnitude (JPL) 17.60

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/2025 L1 (ATLAS) from Lijiang, China (all times relative to the local timezone Asia/Shanghai):

Azimuth: 147.6° RISE 7:04

Max altitude: 9.1° TRANSIT 10:11

Azimuth: 212.6° SET 13:18

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/2025 L1 (ATLAS) from Earth is currently 413,916,640.0 kilometers, equivalent to 2.7668618414 Astronomical Units. Light takes 23m 0.677s to travel from comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) and arrive to us.

Distance Km 413,916,640.0

Distance AU 2.7668618414

Light Travel Time 23m 0.677s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (ATLAS) to Earth will happen on Monday 23 March 2026 at a distance of 1.101100 Astronomical Units, or 164,722,238 kilometers:

Date Monday 23 March 2026

Distance Kilometers 164,722,238

Distance AU 1.101100

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/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (ATLAS) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) at epoch May, 06 2025 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460802.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element	Symbol	Value
Orbit eccentricity	e	1.00092748
Orbit inclination	i	114.13652863°
Perihelion distance	q	1.67945720 AU 251,243,222 km
Aphelion distance	Q	n.a.
Semi-major axis	a	n.a.
Orbital period	period	n.a.
Date of perihelion transit	Tp	January 12, 2026 2,461,053.3030 JD
Argument of perihelion	peri	341.2702064471°
Longitude of the ascending node	node	208.10371687588°
Mean anomaly	M	-0.0032080579768761°
Mean motion	n	0.00001279°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/2025 L1 (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/2025 L1 (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
Jun 26 2025	03h 25m 29s	-54° 50’ 16”	17.82	Horologium
Jun 27 2025	03h 28m 02s	-55° 10’ 27”	17.79	Horologium
Jun 28 2025	03h 30m 39s	-55° 30’ 53”	17.76	Horologium
Jun 29 2025	03h 33m 18s	-55° 51’ 37”	17.74	Horologium
Jun 30 2025	03h 36m 00s	-56° 12’ 37”	17.71	Reticulum
Jul 01 2025	03h 38m 46s	-56° 33’ 53”	17.68	Reticulum
Jul 02 2025	03h 41m 35s	-56° 55’ 25”	17.65	Reticulum
Jul 03 2025	03h 44m 28s	-57° 17’ 11”	17.62	Reticulum
Jul 04 2025	03h 47m 25s	-57° 39’ 13”	17.59	Reticulum
Jul 05 2025	03h 50m 25s	-58° 01’ 28”	17.57	Reticulum
Jul 06 2025	03h 53m 29s	-58° 23’ 57”	17.54	Reticulum
Jul 07 2025	03h 56m 38s	-58° 46’ 38”	17.51	Reticulum
Jul 08 2025	03h 59m 51s	-59° 09’ 32”	17.48	Reticulum
Jul 09 2025	04h 03m 08s	-59° 32’ 38”	17.46	Reticulum

Ephemeris Calculator

Compute the position of comet C/2025 L1 (ATLAS) for any date and time between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099 and display the results on an interactive star map.