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

Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) passes perihelion

Dominic Ford, Editor
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The sky at

Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) will make its closest approach to the Sun on 2 March, at a distance of 1.02 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 2021 apparition of C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) are as follows:

Date Event
02 Mar 2021Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) will be visible from Fairfield day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
09 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
11 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
13 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
15 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
17 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
19 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
21 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
23 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
25 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
27 Feb 2021AquariusNot observable
01 Mar 2021AquariusNot observable
03 Mar 2021AquariusNot observable
05 Mar 2021CapricornusNot observable
07 Mar 2021CapricornusNot observable
09 Mar 2021CapricornusNot observable
11 Mar 2021CapricornusNot observable
13 Mar 2021CapricornusNot observable
15 Mar 2021AquilaNot observable
17 Mar 2021AquilaNot observable
19 Mar 2021AquilaNot observable
21 Mar 2021AquilaVisible from 05:38 until 05:47
Highest at 05:47, 23° above SE horizon

A more detailed table of C/2020 R4 (ATLAS)'s position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) 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/2020 R4 (ATLAS) is currently available.

The comet's position at perihelion will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet C/2020 R4 (ATLAS) 20h40m30s 11°21'S Aquarius 10.0

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 2 Mar 2021

The sky on 2 March 2021
Sunrise
06:23
Sunset
17:44
Twilight ends
19:16
Twilight begins
04:52

19-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

80%

19 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 05:15 10:20 15:25
Venus 06:18 11:44 17:09
Moon 20:42 02:38 08:23
Mars 09:31 16:54 00:17
Jupiter 05:24 10:27 15:31
Saturn 04:59 09:54 14:49
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 19 Nov 2024.

Image credit

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

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Fairfield

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Longitude:
Timezone:

41.14°N
73.26°W
EST

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