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Comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet)

Below the horizon.  Rise: 9:33 | Tran: 15:05 | Set: 20:38
Alt: -40.53°   Az: 332.37°   Direction: North-North-West

Comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) is in the constellation of Hydra, at a distance of 15,173,646,780.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 08h 45m 17s and the Declination is -05° 06’ 22” (apparent coordinates).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) in the constellation of Hydra on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) in the constellation of Hydra 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet)
RA: 08h 44m 01s
Dec: -05° 00’ 46”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

08h 45m 17s
-05° 06’ 22”
10h 37m 05s
19h 22m 22s

J2000

08h 44m 01s
-05° 00’ 46”

Additional Information

Hydra
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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 95.1°
Max altitude: 33.4°
Azimuth: 264.9°

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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) from Earth is currently 15,173,646,780.0 kilometers, equivalent to 101.4295638634 Astronomical Units. Light takes 14h 3m 33.838s to travel from comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) and arrive to us.

15,173,646,780.0
101.4295638634
14h 3m 33.838s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) to Earth happened on Saturday 26 January 2013 at a distance of 88.631095 Astronomical Units, or 13,259,023,171 kilometers:

Saturday 26 January 2013
13,259,023,171
88.631095

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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) at epoch UTC (JD: 2432926.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.99991400
Orbit inclination i 23.11627215°
Perihelion distance q 0.13543934 AU
20,261,437 km
Aphelion distance Q 3,149.43891593 AU
471,149,356,668 km
Semi-major axis a 1,574.78717764 AU
235,584,809,052 km
Orbital period period 62,494.3862 years
22,826,074.5766 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp October 27, 1948
2,432,851.9268 JD
Next perihelion transit June 28, 64444
25,258,926.5034 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 107.24936166521°
Longitude of the ascending node node 211.04271852325°
Mean anomaly M 0.001176126989925°
Mean motion n 0.00001577°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet) 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 24 2025 08h 45m 04s -05° 06’ 24” N.A. Hydra
Jun 25 2025 08h 45m 06s -05° 06’ 23” N.A. Hydra
Jun 26 2025 08h 45m 08s -05° 06’ 22” N.A. Hydra
Jun 27 2025 08h 45m 10s -05° 06’ 22” N.A. Hydra
Jun 28 2025 08h 45m 12s -05° 06’ 21” N.A. Hydra
Jun 29 2025 08h 45m 13s -05° 06’ 21” N.A. Hydra
Jun 30 2025 08h 45m 15s -05° 06’ 21” N.A. Hydra
Jul 01 2025 08h 45m 17s -05° 06’ 22” N.A. Hydra
Jul 02 2025 08h 45m 19s -05° 06’ 23” N.A. Hydra
Jul 03 2025 08h 45m 21s -05° 06’ 24” N.A. Hydra
Jul 04 2025 08h 45m 23s -05° 06’ 25” N.A. Hydra
Jul 05 2025 08h 45m 25s -05° 06’ 26” N.A. Hydra
Jul 06 2025 08h 45m 27s -05° 06’ 28” N.A. Hydra
Jul 07 2025 08h 45m 29s -05° 06’ 30” N.A. Hydra

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