6,642 days ago
Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is forecast to reach the brightest point in its 2006 apparition on 11 May. At that time, it will lie at a distance of 1.01 AU from the Sun, and at a distance of 0.13 AU from the Earth.
From Jacksonville on 11 May it will be visible in the dawn sky, rising at 01:18 (EDT) and reaching an altitude of 51° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 05:31.
The events that comprise the 2006 apparition of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann are as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 07 May 2006 | Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann passes perigee |
| 11 May 2006 | Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann reaches peak brightness |
| 04 Jun 2006 | Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann passes perihelion |
The table below lists the times when 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann will be visible from Jacksonville day-by-day through its apparition:
| Date | Constellation | Comet visibility |
| 20 Apr 2006 | Serpens Caput | Visible from 22:07 until 05:53 Highest at 03:15, 82° above S horizon |
| 22 Apr 2006 | Serpens Caput | Visible from 22:07 until 05:51 Highest at 03:17, 83° above S horizon |
| 24 Apr 2006 | Serpens Caput | Visible from 22:09 until 05:48 Highest at 03:20, 84° above S horizon |
| 26 Apr 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 22:13 until 05:46 Highest at 03:25, 84° above S horizon |
| 28 Apr 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 22:18 until 05:44 Highest at 03:33, 85° above S horizon |
| 30 Apr 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 22:25 until 05:42 Highest at 03:44, 85° above S horizon |
| 02 May 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 22:37 until 05:39 Highest at 03:59, 86° above S horizon |
| 04 May 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 22:54 until 05:37 Highest at 04:18, 86° above S horizon |
| 06 May 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 23:17 until 05:35 Highest at 04:44, 85° above S horizon |
| 08 May 2006 | Hercules | Visible from 23:49 until 05:33 Highest at 05:15, 84° above S horizon |
| 10 May 2006 | Vulpecula | Visible from 00:29 until 05:32 Highest at 05:32, 81° above SE horizon |
| 12 May 2006 | Delphinus | Visible from 01:14 until 05:30 Highest at 05:30, 72° above SE horizon |
| 14 May 2006 | Pegasus | Visible from 02:00 until 05:28 Highest at 05:28, 63° above SE horizon |
| 16 May 2006 | Pegasus | Visible from 02:44 until 05:27 Highest at 05:27, 53° above SE horizon |
| 18 May 2006 | Pegasus | Visible from 03:22 until 05:25 Highest at 05:25, 45° above SE horizon |
| 20 May 2006 | Pisces | Visible from 03:55 until 05:24 Highest at 05:24, 38° above E horizon |
| 22 May 2006 | Pisces | Visible from 04:21 until 05:22 Highest at 05:22, 33° above E horizon |
| 24 May 2006 | Pisces | Visible from 04:41 until 05:21 Highest at 05:21, 29° above E horizon |
| 26 May 2006 | Pisces | Visible from 04:58 until 05:20 Highest at 05:20, 25° above E horizon |
| 28 May 2006 | Pisces | Visible from 05:10 until 05:19 Highest at 05:19, 23° above E horizon |
| 30 May 2006 | Cetus | Not observable |
A more detailed table of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is available here.
Finder chart
The chart below shows the path of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 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 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is currently available.
The comet's position on 11 May 2006 will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude |
| Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann | 21h19m50s | 3°44'N | Equuleus | 6.6 |
The coordinates are given in J2000.0.
The sky on 17 Jul 2024
| The sky on 17 July 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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88% 12 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 05 Jul 2024.
Image credit
© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.