Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1)

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is currently in the constellation of Ara. The current Right Ascension of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is 16h 51m 39s and the Declination is -53° 38’ 43” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is 32.14 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:

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Additional information about Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1)?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1)?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) from Earth is currently 4,891,698,086 kilometers, equivalent to 32.698982 Astronomical Units. Light takes 4 hours, 31 minutes and 56.9485 seconds to travel from Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) 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.

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/2006 P1 (McNaught) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) to Earth

Between January 1900 and January 2100, the closest approach of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) to Earth happens on Mon Jan 15 2007 at a distance of 0.817903 Astronomical Units, or 122,356,519 kilometers:

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

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is 32.14.

The observed magnitude and coma diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of comets. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated 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.

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1), 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.

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) rise and set times

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) is currently not visible from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.

Visualization of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Oct 18	16h 50m 30s	-53° 43’ 04”	32.13	Ara
2020 Oct 19	16h 50m 39s	-53° 42’ 28”	32.13	Ara
2020 Oct 20	16h 50m 47s	-53° 41’ 53”	32.13	Ara
2020 Oct 21	16h 50m 56s	-53° 41’ 18”	32.13	Ara
2020 Oct 22	16h 51m 05s	-53° 40’ 45”	32.13	Ara
2020 Oct 23	16h 51m 14s	-53° 40’ 12”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 24	16h 51m 23s	-53° 39’ 41”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 25	16h 51m 32s	-53° 39’ 09”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 26	16h 51m 41s	-53° 38’ 39”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 27	16h 51m 51s	-53° 38’ 09”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 28	16h 52m 00s	-53° 37’ 41”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 29	16h 52m 09s	-53° 37’ 13”	32.14	Ara
2020 Oct 30	16h 52m 19s	-53° 36’ 46”	32.15	Ara
2020 Oct 31	16h 52m 29s	-53° 36’ 20”	32.15	Ara