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130P/McNaught-Hughes
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase PA
Perihelion15 Apr 202415.01.868 AU2.434 AU 22h53m-11°39'45.2°22.4°243°
Nearest approach7 Oct 202415.32.344 AU1.393 AU 02h26m+07°35'156.5°9.8°267°
Today16 Oct 202622.94.823 AU5.075 AU 09h05m+21°18'69.8°11.2°288°
130P/McNaught-Hughes- 2026-10-16
astro.vanbuitenen.nl


 
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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 8.9 + 5 log[∆] + 15.3 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)                : 0.4548150
    q (Perihelion distance)         : 1.8684320
    i (Inclination)                 : 5.89580
    Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 68.88120
    ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 248.95860
    L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 137.73777
    B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -5.50142
    T (Time of perihelion passage)  : 2460415.55450
    P (Orbital period in years)     : 6.34

    Epoch                           : 2026 Oct 15
    Reference                       : MPC191604

    Classification(s):              : Ecliptic; Jupiter family
    Tisserand (Jupiter)             : 2.956

Ephemerides

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-10-15 00:00 UT   09 04 53.5   +21 19 19     5.090    4.822   68.9   11.1   288   22.9 
2026-10-16 00:00 UT   09 05 26.4   +21 18 06     5.076    4.823   69.8   11.2   288   22.9 
2026-10-16 00:38 UT   09 05 27.2   +21 18 05     5.075    4.823   69.8   11.2   288   22.9 
2026-10-17 00:00 UT   09 05 58.6   +21 16 57     5.062    4.824   70.6   11.2   288   22.9 
2026-10-18 00:00 UT   09 06 30.2   +21 15 50     5.048    4.826   71.5   11.3   288   22.9 
2026-10-19 00:00 UT   09 07 01.2   +21 14 46     5.034    4.827   72.4   11.3   288   22.9 
2026-10-20 00:00 UT   09 07 31.6   +21 13 44     5.020    4.828   73.3   11.4   288   22.9 
2026-10-21 00:00 UT   09 08 01.3   +21 12 46     5.006    4.830   74.1   11.4   288   22.9 
2026-10-22 00:00 UT   09 08 30.4   +21 11 51     4.992    4.831   75.0   11.5   288   22.9 
2026-10-23 00:00 UT   09 08 58.9   +21 10 59     4.977    4.832   75.9   11.5   288   22.9 
2026-10-24 00:00 UT   09 09 26.7   +21 10 10     4.963    4.834   76.8   11.6   288   22.9 
2026-10-25 00:00 UT   09 09 53.9   +21 09 24     4.949    4.835   77.7   11.6   288   22.9 
2026-10-26 00:00 UT   09 10 20.4   +21 08 42     4.934    4.836   78.6   11.6   288   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.

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