9,544 days ago
Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) will make its closest approach to the Sun on 26 January, at a distance of 1.73 AU.
From Fairfield on the day of perihelion it will be visible in the dawn sky, becoming accessible around 03:45 (EDT), when it reaches an altitude of 21° above your north-eastern horizon. It will then reach an altitude of 40° before fading from view as dawn breaks at 06:00.
The events that comprise the 1998–1999 apparition of C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) are as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 26 Jan 1999 | Comet C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) passes perihelion |
The table below lists the times when C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) will be visible from Fairfield day-by-day through its apparition:
| Date | Constellation | Comet visibility |
| 05 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:50 until 18:21 05:31 until 06:06 Highest at 06:06, 27° above NE horizon |
| 07 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:52 until 18:16 05:22 until 06:06 Highest at 06:06, 29° above NE horizon |
| 09 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:54 until 18:12 05:13 until 06:06 Highest at 06:06, 30° above NE horizon |
| 11 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:55 until 18:08 05:03 until 06:06 Highest at 06:06, 31° above NE horizon |
| 13 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:57 until 18:05 04:54 until 06:06 Highest at 06:06, 33° above NE horizon |
| 15 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 17:59 until 18:01 04:44 until 06:05 Highest at 06:05, 34° above NE horizon |
| 17 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 04:34 until 06:04 Highest at 06:04, 35° above NE horizon |
| 19 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 04:24 until 06:04 Highest at 06:04, 37° above NE horizon |
| 21 Jan 1999 | Lyra | Visible from 04:14 until 06:03 Highest at 06:03, 38° above NE horizon |
| 23 Jan 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 04:03 until 06:02 Highest at 06:02, 39° above NE horizon |
| 25 Jan 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 03:52 until 06:00 Highest at 06:00, 40° above NE horizon |
| 27 Jan 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 03:40 until 05:59 Highest at 05:59, 41° above NE horizon |
| 29 Jan 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 03:29 until 05:58 Highest at 05:58, 42° above NE horizon |
| 31 Jan 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 03:16 until 05:56 Highest at 05:56, 43° above NE horizon |
| 02 Feb 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 03:04 until 05:54 Highest at 05:54, 44° above NE horizon |
| 04 Feb 1999 | Cygnus | Visible from 02:50 until 05:53 Highest at 05:53, 45° above NE horizon |
| 06 Feb 1999 | Draco | Visible from 02:36 until 05:51 Highest at 05:51, 46° above NE horizon |
| 08 Feb 1999 | Draco | Visible from 02:21 until 05:49 Highest at 05:49, 47° above NE horizon |
| 10 Feb 1999 | Draco | Visible from 02:05 until 05:47 Highest at 05:47, 48° above NE horizon |
| 12 Feb 1999 | Draco | Visible from 18:30 until 05:44 Highest at 05:44, 48° above NE horizon |
| 14 Feb 1999 | Draco | Visible from 18:32 until 05:42 Highest at 05:42, 49° above NE horizon |
A more detailed table of C/1998 M5 (LINEAR)'s position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) is available here.
Finder chart
The chart below shows the path of C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) 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 C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) is currently available.
The comet's position at perihelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude |
| Comet C/1998 M5 (LINEAR) | 19h16m30s | 49°58'N | Cygnus | 9.7 |
The coordinates are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 14 Mar 2025
| The sky on 14 March 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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99% 14 days old |
All times shown in EDT.
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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 23 Feb 2025.
Image credit
© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.