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

Comet C/2009 G1 (STEREO) passes perihelion

Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet C/2009 G1 (STEREO) will make its closest approach to the Sun on 17 April, at a distance of 1.14 AU.

From Fairfield on the day of perihelion it will not be observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and will be no higher than 8° above the horizon at dawn.

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The events that comprise the 2009 apparition of C/2009 G1 (STEREO) are as follows:

Date Event
17 Apr 2009Comet C/2009 G1 (STEREO) passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when C/2009 G1 (STEREO) will be visible from Fairfield day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
27 Mar 2009PegasusNot observable
29 Mar 2009PegasusNot observable
31 Mar 2009PegasusNot observable
02 Apr 2009PegasusNot observable
04 Apr 2009PegasusNot observable
06 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
08 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
10 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
12 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
14 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
16 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
18 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
20 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
22 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
24 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
26 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
28 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
30 Apr 2009AquariusNot observable
02 May 2009AquariusNot observable
04 May 2009AquariusNot observable
06 May 2009AquariusNot observable

A more detailed table of C/2009 G1 (STEREO)'s position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of C/2009 G1 (STEREO) is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of C/2009 G1 (STEREO) 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/2009 G1 (STEREO) is currently available.

The comet's position at perihelion will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet C/2009 G1 (STEREO) 22h47m10s 3°59'S Aquarius 9.1

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 12 Dec 2024

The sky on 12 December 2024
Sunrise
07:07
Sunset
16:23
Twilight ends
18:03
Twilight begins
05:27

11-day old moon
Waxing Gibbous

94%

11 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 05:53 10:48 15:42
Venus 10:15 15:00 19:45
Moon 14:06 21:32 05:10
Mars 19:36 03:02 10:27
Jupiter 15:53 23:19 06:45
Saturn 11:52 17:25 22:57
All times shown in EST.

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 10 Dec 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
EST

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