Skip Navigation Links

146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase PA
Perihelion5 Aug 202415.11.417 AU1.280 AU 03h59m+02°57'75.3°43.8°253°
Nearest approach11 Nov 202417.81.795 AU0.966 AU 06h21m+37°19'133.2°23.7°259°
Today16 Jan 202634.04.520 AU3.817 AU 11h27m+33°43'130.7°9.5°270°
146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR- 2026-01-16
astro.vanbuitenen.nl


 
-1 month
-1 week
-1 day
Now
+1 day
+1 week
+1 month

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 9.6 + 5 log[∆] + 32.8 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 146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR are: 

    e (Eccentricity)                : 0.6476040
    q (Perihelion distance)         : 1.4174480
    i (Inclination)                 : 23.11700
    Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 53.32730
    ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 317.01740
    L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 12.72687
    B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -15.52579
    T (Time of perihelion passage)  : 2460527.87170
    P (Orbital period in years)     : 8.07

    Epoch                           : 2026 Jan 15
    Reference                       : MPEC 2025-W75

    Classification(s):              : Ecliptic; Jupiter family
    Tisserand (Jupiter)             : 2.526

Ephemerides

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-01-15 00:00 UT   11 28 11.6   +33 35 24     3.823    4.515  129.7    9.7   271   34.0 
2026-01-16 00:00 UT   11 27 50.7   +33 42 08     3.818    4.520  130.5    9.5   270   34.0 
2026-01-16 03:15 UT   11 27 47.8   +33 43 03     3.817    4.520  130.7    9.5   270   34.0 
2026-01-17 00:00 UT   11 27 28.6   +33 48 53     3.813    4.525  131.4    9.4   269   34.0 
2026-01-18 00:00 UT   11 27 05.5   +33 55 39     3.808    4.529  132.3    9.2   268   34.0 
2026-01-19 00:00 UT   11 26 41.2   +34 02 25     3.804    4.534  133.2    9.1   267   34.0 
2026-01-20 00:00 UT   11 26 15.9   +34 09 11     3.800    4.539  134.0    9.0   266   34.0 
2026-01-21 00:00 UT   11 25 49.4   +34 15 57     3.796    4.544  134.9    8.8   265   34.0 
2026-01-22 00:00 UT   11 25 21.9   +34 22 42     3.792    4.549  135.7    8.7   263   34.0 
2026-01-23 00:00 UT   11 24 53.4   +34 29 26     3.788    4.554  136.6    8.5   262   34.1 
2026-01-24 00:00 UT   11 24 23.8   +34 36 08     3.785    4.558  137.4    8.4   261   34.1 
2026-01-25 00:00 UT   11 23 53.2   +34 42 49     3.782    4.563  138.2    8.3   260   34.1 
2026-01-26 00:00 UT   11 23 21.6   +34 49 29     3.779    4.568  139.0    8.1   258   34.1 




    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.

Privacy policy