|
130P/McNaught-Hughes |
| ephemeris |
date |
magn |
radius |
delta |
ra |
dec |
elong |
phase |
PA |
| Perihelion | 16 Apr 2024 | 15.0 | 1.855 AU | 2.407 AU | 22h54m | -11°35' | 46.0° | 22.9° | 243° |
| Nearest approach | 7 Oct 2024 | 15.3 | 2.333 AU | 1.383 AU | 02h27m | +07°29' | 156.2° | 10.0° | 267° |
| Today | 23 Jul 2026 | 22.9 | 4.691 AU | 5.701 AU | 07h55m | +24°21' | 5.6° | 1.2° | 320° |
130P/McNaught-Hughes- 2026-07-23
astro.vanbuitenen.nl
The interactive orbit chart above shows the comet's path through the solar system and its position at the given date.
Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below.
(Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)
Light curve
The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the comet's magnitude. Blue and black dots are visual and photometric CCD observations from COBS.
This lightcurve is being recalculated every 6 hours based on the available COBS/MPC observations (currently 9.1 + 5 log[∆] + 15.0 log[r]). An additional green curve is displayed when an increase in apparent brightness is expected due to forward scattering of sunlight, which occurs when a dust-rich comet is located between the Earth and the Sun. (See Marcus 2007)
Charts
The all-sky chart below shows the path of the comet over the same period as the light curve. The comet's current position is marked yellow.
The following chart shows the short-term path of the comet in a field of view that is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes.
Orbital elements
The orbital elements of 130P/McNaught-Hughes are:
e (Eccentricity) : 0.4573490
q (Perihelion distance) : 1.8552100
i (Inclination) : 5.93940
Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 69.37180
ω (Argument of perihelion) : 248.22040
L (Longitude of perihelion) : 137.48573
B (Latitude of perihelion) : -5.51407
T (Time of perihelion passage) : 2460416.57620
P (Orbital period in years) : 6.32
Epoch : 2026 Jul 22
Reference : MPC191604
Classification(s): : Ecliptic; Jupiter family
Tisserand (Jupiter) : 2.956
Ephemerides
Date Time RA (2000) DEC (2000) delta radius elong phase PA magn
2026-07-22 00:00 UT 07 54 06.2 +24 25 27 5.700 4.688 4.6 1.0 330 22.9
2026-07-23 00:00 UT 07 55 06.0 +24 23 07 5.700 4.689 5.1 1.1 324 22.9
2026-07-23 20:01 UT 07 55 55.8 +24 21 10 5.701 4.691 5.6 1.2 320 22.9
2026-07-24 00:00 UT 07 56 05.7 +24 20 47 5.701 4.691 5.7 1.2 319 22.9
2026-07-25 00:00 UT 07 57 05.3 +24 18 26 5.701 4.693 6.3 1.4 315 22.9
2026-07-26 00:00 UT 07 58 04.7 +24 16 04 5.701 4.695 6.9 1.5 312 22.9
2026-07-27 00:00 UT 07 59 04.1 +24 13 42 5.701 4.697 7.5 1.6 309 22.9
2026-07-28 00:00 UT 08 00 03.4 +24 11 19 5.701 4.698 8.2 1.8 307 22.9
2026-07-29 00:00 UT 08 01 02.5 +24 08 55 5.701 4.700 8.9 1.9 305 22.9
2026-07-30 00:00 UT 08 02 01.5 +24 06 31 5.700 4.702 9.5 2.0 303 22.9
2026-07-31 00:00 UT 08 03 00.4 +24 04 07 5.699 4.704 10.2 2.2 302 22.9
2026-08-01 00:00 UT 08 03 59.2 +24 01 42 5.698 4.706 10.9 2.3 301 22.9
2026-08-02 00:00 UT 08 04 57.9 +23 59 16 5.697 4.707 11.6 2.5 300 22.9
Terminology:
delta: distance between comet and earth in AU
radius: distance between comet and sun in AU
magn: magnitude (brightness) estimate
ra: right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
dec: declination in degrees
elong: elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-comet)
phase: phase angle in degrees (angle sun-comet-earth)
AU: Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
Orbital elements usually provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Observations contributed by observers worldwide, via COBS (Comet Observation Database) or the MPC (Minor Planet Center)
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.
