Skip Navigation Links

146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase PA
Perihelion5 Aug 202415.11.418 AU1.280 AU 03h59m+02°57'75.4°43.8°253°
Nearest approach11 Nov 202417.81.795 AU0.966 AU 06h21m+37°18'133.2°23.7°259°
Today27 Oct 202533.04.107 AU4.489 AU 11h02m+29°04'61.4°12.3°306°
146P/Shoemaker-LINEAR- 2025-10-27
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)                : 0.6475880
    q (Perihelion distance)         : 1.4179150
    i (Inclination)                 : 23.11680
    Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 53.33920
    ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 317.02670
    L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 12.74794
    B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -15.52289
    T (Time of perihelion passage)  : 2460527.89310
    P (Orbital period in years)     : 8.07

    Epoch                           : 2025 Oct 26
    Reference                       : MPC184418

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

Ephemerides

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2025-10-26 00:00 UT   11 00 39.0   +29 06 20     4.501    4.098   60.1   12.1   307   32.9 
2025-10-27 00:00 UT   11 01 31.1   +29 05 29     4.494    4.103   60.9   12.2   307   32.9 
2025-10-27 17:46 UT   11 02 09.3   +29 04 54     4.489    4.107   61.4   12.3   306   33.0 
2025-10-28 00:00 UT   11 02 22.6   +29 04 43     4.487    4.109   61.6   12.3   306   33.0 
2025-10-29 00:00 UT   11 03 13.6   +29 04 03     4.479    4.114   62.4   12.4   306   33.0 
2025-10-30 00:00 UT   11 04 03.9   +29 03 29     4.472    4.119   63.1   12.4   306   33.0 
2025-10-31 00:00 UT   11 04 53.7   +29 03 00     4.464    4.125   63.9   12.5   305   33.0 
2025-11-01 00:00 UT   11 05 42.9   +29 02 38     4.457    4.130   64.6   12.5   305   33.0 
2025-11-02 00:00 UT   11 06 31.4   +29 02 21     4.449    4.136   65.4   12.6   305   33.0 
2025-11-03 00:00 UT   11 07 19.4   +29 02 11     4.441    4.141   66.2   12.7   305   33.1 
2025-11-04 00:00 UT   11 08 06.7   +29 02 06     4.433    4.146   67.0   12.7   304   33.1 
2025-11-05 00:00 UT   11 08 53.4   +29 02 08     4.425    4.152   67.7   12.8   304   33.1 
2025-11-06 00:00 UT   11 09 39.5   +29 02 15     4.416    4.157   68.5   12.8   304   33.1 




    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