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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:58 
Transit: 13:05 
Sunset: 21:12
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Comets » 

Comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet)

Above the horizon.  Rise: 21:48 | Tran: 3:29 | Set: 9:07
Alt: 29.40°   Az: 212.74°   Direction: South-South-West

Comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) is in the constellation of Aquarius, at a distance of 14,770,982,975.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 21h 50m 57s and the Declination is -04° 08’ 32” (apparent coordinates).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) in the constellation of Aquarius on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) in the constellation of Aquarius 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/1947 X1-A (Southern 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/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet)
RA: 21h 49m 37s
Dec: -04° 15’ 44”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

21h 50m 57s
-04° 08’ 32”
01h 52m 45s
23h 43m 42s

J2000

21h 49m 37s
-04° 15’ 44”

Additional Information

Aquarius
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/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 94.1°
Max altitude: 34.4°
Azimuth: 265.9°

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/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) from Earth is currently 14,770,982,975.0 kilometers, equivalent to 98.7379225779 Astronomical Units. Light takes 13h 41m 10.696s to travel from comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) and arrive to us.

14,770,982,975.0
98.7379225779
13h 41m 10.696s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern 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/1947 X1-A (Southern 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/1947 X1-A (Southern 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/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) to Earth happened on Monday 12 August 2013 at a distance of 88.311242 Astronomical Units, or 13,211,173,795 kilometers:

Monday 12 August 2013
13,211,173,795
88.311242

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/1947 X1-A (Southern Comet) at epoch UTC (JD: 2432538.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.99984292
Orbit inclination i 138.51137649°
Perihelion distance q 0.11000471 AU
16,456,470 km
Aphelion distance Q 1,400.47396976 AU
209,507,924,267 km
Semi-major axis a 700.29198723 AU
104,762,190,368 km
Orbital period period 18,532.1983 years
6,768,885.4193 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp December 2, 1947
2,432,522.0865 JD
Next perihelion transit June 30, 20480
9,201,407.5058 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 196.18205692517°
Longitude of the ascending node node 337.31152850504°
Mean anomaly M 0.00087294596831845°
Mean motion n 0.00005318°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/1947 X1-A (Southern 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/1947 X1-A (Southern 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
Jul 05 2025 21h 51m 09s -04° 07’ 50” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 06 2025 21h 51m 08s -04° 07’ 56” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 07 2025 21h 51m 06s -04° 08’ 02” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 08 2025 21h 51m 04s -04° 08’ 07” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 09 2025 21h 51m 03s -04° 08’ 13” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 10 2025 21h 51m 01s -04° 08’ 18” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 11 2025 21h 50m 59s -04° 08’ 25” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 12 2025 21h 50m 57s -04° 08’ 31” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 13 2025 21h 50m 55s -04° 08’ 37” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 14 2025 21h 50m 54s -04° 08’ 44” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 15 2025 21h 50m 52s -04° 08’ 51” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 16 2025 21h 50m 50s -04° 08’ 57” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 17 2025 21h 50m 48s -04° 09’ 05” N.A. Aquarius
Jul 18 2025 21h 50m 46s -04° 09’ 12” N.A. Aquarius

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