16,519 days ago
Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma will make its closest approach to the Sun on 2 December, at a distance of 1.59 AU.
From South El Monte on the day of perihelion it will be visible in the morning sky, becoming accessible around 19:48, when it reaches an altitude of 21° above your eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 01:02, 79° above your southern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight around 05:37, 29° above your western horizon.
The events that comprise the 1980–1981 apparition of 38P/Stephan-Oterma are as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 02 Dec 1980 | Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma passes perihelion |
The table below lists the times when 38P/Stephan-Oterma will be visible from South El Monte day-by-day through its apparition:
| Date | Constellation | Comet visibility |
| 11 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 21:24 until 05:20 Highest at 02:13, 69° above S horizon |
| 13 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 21:16 until 05:21 Highest at 02:07, 70° above S horizon |
| 15 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 21:07 until 05:23 Highest at 02:00, 71° above S horizon |
| 17 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 20:59 until 05:25 Highest at 01:54, 72° above S horizon |
| 19 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 20:50 until 05:26 Highest at 01:47, 73° above S horizon |
| 21 Nov 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 20:41 until 05:28 Highest at 01:41, 74° above S horizon |
| 23 Nov 1980 | Orion | Visible from 20:32 until 05:30 Highest at 01:34, 75° above S horizon |
| 25 Nov 1980 | Orion | Visible from 20:22 until 05:31 Highest at 01:27, 76° above S horizon |
| 27 Nov 1980 | Orion | Visible from 20:13 until 05:33 Highest at 01:20, 77° above S horizon |
| 29 Nov 1980 | Orion | Visible from 20:03 until 05:35 Highest at 01:13, 78° above S horizon |
| 01 Dec 1980 | Orion | Visible from 19:53 until 05:36 Highest at 01:06, 79° above S horizon |
| 03 Dec 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 19:43 until 05:38 Highest at 00:58, 80° above S horizon |
| 05 Dec 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 19:33 until 05:39 Highest at 00:51, 81° above S horizon |
| 07 Dec 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 19:23 until 05:41 Highest at 00:43, 82° above S horizon |
| 09 Dec 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 19:13 until 05:42 Highest at 00:36, 83° above S horizon |
| 11 Dec 1980 | Taurus | Visible from 19:03 until 05:44 Highest at 00:28, 84° above S horizon |
| 13 Dec 1980 | Auriga | Visible from 18:52 until 05:45 Highest at 00:20, 85° above S horizon |
| 15 Dec 1980 | Auriga | Visible from 18:42 until 05:43 Highest at 00:12, 86° above S horizon |
| 17 Dec 1980 | Auriga | Visible from 18:32 until 05:38 Highest at 00:05, 87° above S horizon |
| 19 Dec 1980 | Auriga | Visible from 18:17 until 05:28 Highest at 23:53, 88° above S horizon |
| 21 Dec 1980 | Auriga | Visible from 18:07 until 05:23 Highest at 23:45, 89° above S horizon |
A more detailed table of 38P/Stephan-Oterma's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 38P/Stephan-Oterma is available here.
Finder chart
The chart below shows the path of 38P/Stephan-Oterma over the course of its apparition, as calculated from the orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC). It is available for download, either on dark background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats, or on a light background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats. It was produced using StarCharter.
Comet brightnesses
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.
No estimate for the brightness of comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma is currently available.
The comet's position at perihelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude |
| Comet 38P/Stephan-Oterma | 05h55m40s | 23°15'N | Taurus | 9.4 |
The coordinates are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 23 Feb 2026
| The sky on 23 February 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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52% 7 days old |
All times shown in PST.
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Source
This event was automatically generated on the basis of orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) , and is updated whenever new elements become available. It was last updated on 15 Dec 2025.
Image credit
© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.