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public LocationGreenwich, UK
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:21 
Transit: 13:06 
Sunset: 20:50
wb_twilight   (Nautical Twilight)   What's Visible Now?
Comets » 

Comet 260P/McNaught

Below the horizon.  Rise: 13:04 | Tran: 17:30 | Set: 21:56
Alt: -51.48°   Az: 323.87°   Direction: North-West

Comet 260P/McNaught is in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 786,397,088.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 13h 01m 48s and the Declination is -17° 23’ 21” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 260P/McNaught is 25.48 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder chart of 260P/McNaught in Virgo on July,29 2024
Map showing Comet 260P/McNaught in Virgo on July, 29 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

13h 01m 48s
-17° 23’ 21”
10h 29m 28s
23h 31m 17s

J2000

13h 00m 30s
-17° 15’ 26”

Additional Information

Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
25.48

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

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 260P/McNaught from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 107.4°
Max altitude: 21.1°
Azimuth: 252.6°
  • 260P/McNaught is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, 260P/McNaught 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.

Finder Charts

Finder chart of 260P/McNaught
Sky map showing Comet 260P/McNaught in Virgo on July, 29 2024. Field of view: 10x6 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 260P/McNaught is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

260P/McNaught
RA: 13h 00m 30s
Dec: -17° 15’ 26”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 260P/McNaught. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 260P/McNaught?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 260P/McNaught in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 260P/McNaught from Earth is currently 786,397,088.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.2567398474 Astronomical Units. Light takes 43m 43.138s to travel from Comet 260P/McNaught and arrive to us.

786,397,088.0
5.2567398474
43m 43.138s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught 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 260P/McNaught from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 260P/McNaught to Earth happens on Fri Oct 4 2019 at a distance of 0.562196 Astronomical Units, or 84,103,294 kilometers:

Fri Oct 4 2019
84,103,294
0.562196

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 260P/McNaught, 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 260P/McNaught as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 260P/McNaught at epoch 12 October 2014 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456943.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.59426383
Orbit inclination i 15.76861437°
Perihelion distance q 1.49146421 AU
223,119,870 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.86042758 AU
876,707,490 km
Semi-major axis a 3.67594590 AU
549,913,680 km
Orbital period period 7.0479 years
2,574.2581 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2012-Sep-12 12:08:17
2,456,183.0058 JD
Next perihelion transit 2019-Sep-30 18:19
2,458,757.2639 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 15.578161656026°
Longitude of the ascending node node 351.86319273167°
Mean anomaly M 106.35216626541°
Mean motion n 0.13984612°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Comet 260P/McNaught
View Comet 260P/McNaught in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 260P/McNaught 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
2024 Jul 22 12h 59m 09s -17° 16’ 10” 25.47 Virgo
2024 Jul 23 12h 59m 30s -17° 16’ 58” 25.47 Virgo
2024 Jul 24 12h 59m 51s -17° 17’ 50” 25.47 Virgo
2024 Jul 25 13h 00m 13s -17° 18’ 45” 25.48 Virgo
2024 Jul 26 13h 00m 35s -17° 19’ 45” 25.48 Virgo
2024 Jul 27 13h 00m 58s -17° 20’ 50” 25.48 Virgo
2024 Jul 28 13h 01m 21s -17° 21’ 59” 25.48 Virgo
2024 Jul 29 13h 01m 45s -17° 23’ 12” 25.48 Virgo
2024 Jul 30 13h 02m 10s -17° 24’ 28” 25.49 Virgo
2024 Jul 31 13h 02m 35s -17° 25’ 49” 25.49 Virgo
2024 Aug 01 13h 03m 01s -17° 27’ 14” 25.49 Virgo
2024 Aug 02 13h 03m 27s -17° 28’ 44” 25.49 Virgo
2024 Aug 03 13h 03m 54s -17° 30’ 16” 25.49 Virgo
2024 Aug 04 13h 04m 22s -17° 31’ 54” 25.49 Virgo

Additional Resources