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395P/Catalina-NEAT
ephemeris date magn radius delta ra dec elong phase PA
Perihelion18 Feb 202217.84.250 AU5.230 AU 21h38m-11°06'6.7°1.5°276°
Nearest approach6 Sep 202217.04.381 AU3.379 AU 23h14m-00°49'173.1°1.6°215°
Today30 Jul 202621.77.987 AU8.808 AU 06h14m+20°59'34.0°4.1°268°
395P/Catalina-NEAT- 2026-07-30
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 7.9 + 5 log[∆] + 10.0 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 395P/Catalina-NEAT are: 

    e (Eccentricity)                : 0.4097890
    q (Perihelion distance)         : 4.2501940
    i (Inclination)                 : 3.56580
    Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 220.92050
    ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 100.79600
    L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 141.73695
    B (Latitude of perihelion)      : 3.50261
    T (Time of perihelion passage)  : 2459628.65910
    P (Orbital period in years)     : 19.32

    Epoch                           : 2026 Jul 30
    Reference                       : MPC191630

    Classification(s):              : Ecliptic; Jupiter family
    Tisserand (Jupiter)             : 2.865

Ephemerides

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-07-29 00:00 UT   06 13 08.5   +20 59 45     8.820    7.983   32.6    3.9   268   21.7 
2026-07-30 00:00 UT   06 13 40.6   +20 59 20     8.813    7.985   33.4    4.0   268   21.7 
2026-07-30 17:22 UT   06 14 03.7   +20 59 02     8.808    7.987   34.0    4.1   268   21.7 
2026-07-31 00:00 UT   06 14 12.5   +20 58 55     8.806    7.987   34.2    4.1   268   21.7 
2026-08-01 00:00 UT   06 14 44.2   +20 58 29     8.799    7.990   35.0    4.2   268   21.7 
2026-08-02 00:00 UT   06 15 15.7   +20 58 03     8.792    7.992   35.9    4.3   268   21.7 
2026-08-03 00:00 UT   06 15 47.0   +20 57 36     8.784    7.994   36.7    4.4   268   21.7 
2026-08-04 00:00 UT   06 16 18.0   +20 57 09     8.777    7.997   37.5    4.4   268   21.7 
2026-08-05 00:00 UT   06 16 48.8   +20 56 41     8.769    7.999   38.4    4.5   269   21.7 
2026-08-06 00:00 UT   06 17 19.3   +20 56 13     8.761    8.001   39.2    4.6   269   21.7 
2026-08-07 00:00 UT   06 17 49.6   +20 55 44     8.753    8.003   40.1    4.7   269   21.7 
2026-08-08 00:00 UT   06 18 19.6   +20 55 15     8.744    8.006   40.9    4.8   269   21.7 
2026-08-09 00:00 UT   06 18 49.4   +20 54 45     8.736    8.008   41.7    4.8   269   21.7 




    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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