© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

Comet 96P/Machholz passes perihelion

Dominic Ford, Editor
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The sky at

Comet 96P/Machholz will make its closest approach to the Sun on 13 September, at a distance of 0.12 AU.

From Fairfield on the day of perihelion it will not be readily observable since it will be very close to the Sun, at a separation of only 5° from it.

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The events that comprise the 1996 apparition of 96P/Machholz are as follows:

Date Event
13 Sep 1996Comet 96P/Machholz passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when 96P/Machholz will be visible from Fairfield day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
23 Aug 1996AntliaNot observable
25 Aug 1996AntliaNot observable
27 Aug 1996HydraNot observable
29 Aug 1996HydraNot observable
31 Aug 1996HydraNot observable
02 Sep 1996HydraNot observable
04 Sep 1996HydraNot observable
06 Sep 1996SextansNot observable
08 Sep 1996SextansNot observable
10 Sep 1996SextansNot observable
12 Sep 1996LeoNot observable
14 Sep 1996LeoNot observable
16 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
18 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
20 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
22 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
24 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
26 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
28 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
30 Sep 1996VirgoNot observable
02 Oct 1996VirgoNot observable

A more detailed table of 96P/Machholz's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 96P/Machholz is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of 96P/Machholz 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 96P/Machholz is currently available.

The comet's position at perihelion will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet 96P/Machholz 11h08m50s 7°18'N Leo 4.3

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 28 Mar 2024

The sky on 28 March 2024
Sunrise
06:40
Sunset
19:13
Twilight ends
20:47
Twilight begins
05:06

18-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

87%

18 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 07:08 13:57 20:46
Venus 06:08 11:53 17:38
Moon 21:47 02:58 08:00
Mars 05:29 10:52 16:16
Jupiter 08:21 15:22 22:23
Saturn 05:52 11:26 17:00
All times shown in EDT.

Warning

Never attempt to point a pair of binoculars or a telescope at an object close to the Sun. Doing so may result in immediate and permanent blindness.

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 02 Jan 2024.

Image credit

© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

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Fairfield

Latitude:
Longitude:
Timezone:

41.14°N
73.26°W
EDT

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