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public LocationGreenwich, United Kingdom
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:08 
Transit: 12:54 
Sunset: 20:42
sunny   (Daytime)   What's Visible Now?

Comet 16P/Brooks

Altitude: 32.9°   Azimuth: 145.3°   Direction: South-East

Comet 16P/Brooks is currently in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 695,490,454 kilometers from Earth.

Finder chart of 16P/Brooks in Virgo on May,15 2024
Map showing Comet 16P/Brooks in Virgo on May, 15 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
The current Right Ascension of Comet 16P/Brooks is 12h 31m 47s and the Declination is -00° 16’ 05” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 16P/Brooks is 25.41 (JPL).

12h 31m 47s
-00° 16’ 05”
Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
25.41

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.

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 16P/Brooks from Greenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 90.3°
Max altitude: 38.3°
Azimuth: 269.7°
  • 16P/Brooks is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom.
  • Right now it is placed in the South-East direction at an altitude of 33° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 16P/Brooks is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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.

Additional Resources

Comet 16P/Brooks Position and Finder Charts

Finder chart of 16P/Brooks
Map showing Comet 16P/Brooks in Virgo on May, 15 2024
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 16P/Brooks is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

16P/Brooks
RA: 12h 31m 47s
Dec: -00° 16’ 05”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 16P/Brooks
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Comet 16P/Brooks?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 16P/Brooks in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 16P/Brooks Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 16P/Brooks from Earth is currently 695,490,454 kilometers, equivalent to 4.649067 Astronomical Units. Light takes 38 minutes and 39.9064 seconds to travel from Comet 16P/Brooks and arrive to us.

695,490,454
4.649067
38 minutes and 39.9064 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 16P/Brooks 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.

Chart of the distance of Comet 16P/Brooks from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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 16P/Brooks from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 16P/Brooks to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 16P/Brooks to Earth happens on Tue Oct 9 2068 at a distance of 0.771813 Astronomical Units, or 115,461,536 kilometers:

Tue Oct 9 2068
115,461,536
0.771813

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

Comet 16P/Brooks Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 16P/Brooks, 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.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet 16P/Brooks as a function of time

Comet 16P/Brooks Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 16P/Brooks at epoch 11 June 2016 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457551.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.56897473
Orbit inclination i 4.30689946°
Perihelion distance q 1.45450813 AU
217,591,320 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.29455384 AU
792,053,983 km
Semi-major axis a 3.37453099 AU
504,822,651 km
Orbital period period 6.1991 years
2,264.2197 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2014-Jun-14 18:26:56
2,456,823.2687 JD
Next perihelion transit 2020-Aug-25 23:43
2,459,087.4884 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 220.16604592055°
Longitude of the ascending node node 159.34301740446°
Mean anomaly M 115.78526170081°
Mean motion n 0.15899517°/day

Visualization of Comet 16P/Brooks Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 16P/Brooks with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 16P/Brooks 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!

Orbit Diagram of Comet 16P/Brooks
View Comet 16P/Brooks in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Comet 16P/Brooks 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 16P/Brooks computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 16P/Brooks in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2024 May 08 12h 34m 23s -00° 30’ 07” 25.35 Virgo
2024 May 09 12h 34m 00s -00° 28’ 04” 25.36 Virgo
2024 May 10 12h 33m 38s -00° 26’ 04” 25.37 Virgo
2024 May 11 12h 33m 17s -00° 24’ 10” 25.37 Virgo
2024 May 12 12h 32m 57s -00° 22’ 19” 25.38 Virgo
2024 May 13 12h 32m 39s -00° 20’ 35” 25.39 Virgo
2024 May 14 12h 32m 20s -00° 18’ 52” 25.39 Virgo
2024 May 15 12h 32m 02s -00° 17’ 17” 25.40 Virgo
2024 May 16 12h 31m 44s -00° 15’ 45” 25.41 Virgo
2024 May 17 12h 31m 27s -00° 14’ 17” 25.41 Virgo
2024 May 18 12h 31m 10s -00° 12’ 55” 25.42 Virgo
2024 May 19 12h 30m 55s -00° 11’ 36” 25.43 Virgo
2024 May 20 12h 30m 39s -00° 10’ 23” 25.43 Virgo
2024 May 21 12h 30m 25s -00° 09’ 15” 25.44 Virgo