5,737 days ago
Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) will make its closest approach to the Sun on 29 June, at a distance of 3.17 AU.
From Fairfield on the day of perihelion it will be visible in the dawn sky, rising at 20:01 (EDT) and reaching an altitude of 80° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 03:56.
The events that comprise the 2009 apparition of C/2006 W3 (Christensen) are as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 29 Jun 2009 | Comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) passes perihelion |
The table below lists the times when C/2006 W3 (Christensen) will be visible from Fairfield day-by-day through its apparition:
| Date | Constellation | Comet visibility |
| 08 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 00:18 until 03:54 Highest at 03:54, 61° above E horizon |
| 10 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 00:08 until 03:54 Highest at 03:54, 63° above E horizon |
| 12 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:58 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 65° above E horizon |
| 14 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:48 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 67° above E horizon |
| 16 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:38 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 68° above E horizon |
| 18 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:28 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 70° above E horizon |
| 20 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:18 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 72° above E horizon |
| 22 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 23:07 until 03:53 Highest at 03:53, 74° above E horizon |
| 24 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:57 until 03:54 Highest at 03:54, 76° above SE horizon |
| 26 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:46 until 03:55 Highest at 03:55, 78° above SE horizon |
| 28 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:36 until 03:56 Highest at 03:56, 79° above SE horizon |
| 30 Jun 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:25 until 03:57 Highest at 03:57, 81° above SE horizon |
| 02 Jul 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:14 until 03:58 Highest at 03:58, 82° above S horizon |
| 04 Jul 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 22:04 until 04:00 Highest at 03:57, 82° above S horizon |
| 06 Jul 2009 | Pegasus | Visible from 21:52 until 04:01 Highest at 03:45, 81° above S horizon |
| 08 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:51 until 04:03 Highest at 03:33, 81° above S horizon |
| 10 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:50 until 04:05 Highest at 03:21, 81° above S horizon |
| 12 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:48 until 04:07 Highest at 03:09, 80° above S horizon |
| 14 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:46 until 04:09 Highest at 02:57, 80° above S horizon |
| 16 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:45 until 04:11 Highest at 02:45, 80° above S horizon |
| 18 Jul 2009 | Cygnus | Visible from 21:43 until 04:13 Highest at 02:33, 79° above S horizon |
A more detailed table of C/2006 W3 (Christensen)'s position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of C/2006 W3 (Christensen) is available here.
Finder chart
The chart below shows the path of C/2006 W3 (Christensen) 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/2006 W3 (Christensen) is currently available.
The comet's position at perihelion will be:
| Object | Right Ascension | Declination | Constellation | Magnitude |
| Comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) | 22h02m00s | 33°10'N | Pegasus | 8.8 |
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.