Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Wulan, China Wulan, China  ⓘ
TimezoneAsia/Shanghai
Sunrise: 5:54 
Transit: 13:06 
Sunset: 20:19
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 55.52°   Az: 346.27°   Direction: North-North-West

Comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) is in the constellation of Camelopardalis, at a distance of 14,175,316,055.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 04h 05m 51s and the Declination is +68° 52’ 22” (apparent coordinates).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) in the constellation of Camelopardalis on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) in the constellation of Camelopardalis 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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland)
RA: 04h 03m 15s
Dec: +68° 48’ 15”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

04h 05m 51s
+68° 52’ 22”
01h 27m 34s
05h 33m 25s

J2000

04h 03m 15s
+68° 48’ 15”

Additional Information

Camelopardalis
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
-

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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) from Wulan, China (all times relative to the local timezone Asia/Shanghai):

Today comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) is circumpolar and transits at 01:46 UTC reaching a maximum altitude of 57.7°.

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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) from Earth is currently 14,175,316,055.0 kilometers, equivalent to 94.7561351553 Astronomical Units. Light takes 13h 8m 3.765s to travel from comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) and arrive to us.

14,175,316,055.0
94.7561351553
13h 8m 3.765s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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, 2013 and December 30, 2100, the closest approach of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) to Earth happened on Tuesday 1 January 2013 at a distance of 81.582373 Astronomical Units, or 12,204,549,303 kilometers:

Tuesday 1 January 2013
12,204,549,303
81.582373

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

Light Curve

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) at epoch UTC (JD: 2436028.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 1.00024806
Orbit inclination i 119.94430131°
Perihelion distance q 0.31604315 AU
47,279,383 km
Aphelion distance Q n.a.
Semi-major axis a n.a.
Orbital period period n.a.
Date of perihelion transit Tp April 8, 1957
2,435,936.5324 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 308.77454251423°
Longitude of the ascending node node 215.85536149059°
Mean anomaly M 0.0019932238874854°
Mean motion n 0.00002167°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland) 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 05 2025 04h 05m 17s +68° 49’ 46” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 06 2025 04h 05m 22s +68° 50’ 06” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 07 2025 04h 05m 27s +68° 50’ 28” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 08 2025 04h 05m 31s +68° 50’ 49” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 09 2025 04h 05m 36s +68° 51’ 12” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 10 2025 04h 05m 41s +68° 51’ 34” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 11 2025 04h 05m 46s +68° 51’ 57” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 12 2025 04h 05m 50s +68° 52’ 19” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 13 2025 04h 05m 55s +68° 52’ 42” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 14 2025 04h 05m 59s +68° 53’ 05” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 15 2025 04h 06m 03s +68° 53’ 28” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 16 2025 04h 06m 08s +68° 53’ 52” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 17 2025 04h 06m 12s +68° 54’ 16” N.A. Camelopardalis
Jul 18 2025 04h 06m 16s +68° 54’ 41” N.A. Camelopardalis

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive