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

Comet 13P/Olbers reaches peak brightness

Dominic Ford, Editor
From the Comets feed

Objects: 13P/Olbers
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Comet 13P/Olbers is forecast to reach the brightest point in its 2024 apparition on 1 July. At that time, it will lie at a distance of 1.18 AU from the Sun, and at a distance of 1.93 AU from the Earth.

From Cambridge on 1 July it will not be observable – it will reach its highest point in the sky during daytime and will be no higher than 16° above the horizon at dusk.

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The events that comprise the 2024 apparition of 13P/Olbers are as follows:

Date Event
30 Jun 2024Comet 13P/Olbers passes perihelion
01 Jul 2024Comet 13P/Olbers reaches peak brightness

The table below lists the times when 13P/Olbers will be visible from Cambridge day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
10 Jun 2024AurigaNot observable
12 Jun 2024AurigaNot observable
14 Jun 2024AurigaNot observable
16 Jun 2024AurigaNot observable
18 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
20 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
22 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
24 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
26 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
28 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
30 Jun 2024LynxNot observable
02 Jul 2024LynxNot observable
04 Jul 2024LynxNot observable
06 Jul 2024LynxNot observable
08 Jul 2024LynxNot observable
10 Jul 2024Ursa MajorVisible from 21:47 until 21:50
Highest at 21:47, 19° above NW horizon
12 Jul 2024LynxVisible from 21:45 until 21:51
Highest at 21:45, 19° above NW horizon
14 Jul 2024Leo MinorVisible from 21:44 until 21:52
Highest at 21:44, 20° above NW horizon
16 Jul 2024Leo MinorVisible from 21:42 until 21:52
Highest at 21:42, 20° above NW horizon
18 Jul 2024Leo MinorVisible from 21:39 until 21:51
Highest at 21:39, 20° above NW horizon
20 Jul 2024Leo MinorVisible from 21:37 until 21:50
Highest at 21:37, 21° above NW horizon

A more detailed table of 13P/Olbers's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 13P/Olbers is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of 13P/Olbers 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.

Based on the magnitude parameters published for this comet by the BAA Comet Section, we estimate that it may be around mag 6 on 1 July 2024. This estimate is based on observations that the BAA has received from amateur astronomers, assuming that its current level of activity will remain constant.

This comet is not expected to be visible to the naked eye, but might be visible through bird-watching binoculars.

The comet's position on 1 July 2024 will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet 13P/Olbers 08h36m20s 42°23'N Lynx 6.1

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 1 Jul 2024

The sky on 1 July 2024
Sunrise
05:08
Sunset
20:24
Twilight ends
22:38
Twilight begins
02:55

25-day old moon
Waning Crescent

16%

25 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 06:34 14:05 21:37
Venus 05:43 13:19 20:55
Moon 01:26 08:46 16:21
Mars 01:56 08:59 16:02
Jupiter 03:04 10:29 17:54
Saturn 23:47 05:27 11:08
All times shown in EDT.

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 15 Jun 2024.

Image credit

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

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Cambridge

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Longitude:
Timezone:

42.38°N
71.11°W
EDT

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