C/2020 V2 (Comet)

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From Fairfield , C/2020 V2 is visible in the dawn sky, becoming accessible around 03:23 (EDT), when it reaches an altitude of 21° above your north-eastern horizon. It will then reach an altitude of 39° before fading from view as dawn breaks at 05:44.

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Name C/2020 V2

Object type Comet

Current position

Constellation:	Ursa Major
Magnitude:	12.06 (V) [2]
Absolute mag (H):	4.40 [2]
Slope parameter (n):	3.76 [2]
Right ascension:	10h46m [1]
Declination:	+54°42' [1]
Distance:	3.62 AU 30.08 lightmin [1]

Orbital elements ^[1]

Semi-major axis:	-2387.91 AU
Eccentricity:	1.000933
Inclination:	131.61°
Longitude ascending node:	212.37°
Argument of perihelion:	162.42°
Epoch of elements:	02 October 2022
Mean Anomaly at epoch:	360.00°

Derived quantities

Perihelion:

2.23 AU

Sources

[1]	Minor Planet Centre

[2]	BAA Comet Section

The position of this comet was calculated from orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC).

We estimate the brightnesses of comets from magnitude parameters published by the BAA Comet Section, where these are available. These are computed from the observations they receive from amateur astronomers.

Comets are intrinsically highly unpredictable objects, since their brightness depends on the scattering of sunlight from dust particles in the comet's coma and tail. This dust is continually streaming away from the comet's nucleus, and its density at any particular time is governed by the rate of sublimation of the ice in the comet's nucleus, as it is heated by the Sun's rays. It also depends on the amount of dust that is mixed in with that ice. This is very difficult to predict in advance, and can be highly variable even between successive apparitions of the same comet.

In consequence, while the future positions of comets are usually known with a high degree of confidence, their future brightnesses are not. For most comets, we do not publish any magnitude estimates at all. For the few comets where we do make estimates, we generally prefer the BAA's magnitude parameters to those published by the Minor Planet Center, since they are typically updated more often.