A newly discovered Comet is heading toward a close encounter with Earth this February!
Japanese astronomer Masayuki Iwamoto discovered the comet in December of 2018.
This comet is setting a fast pace, at speeds of 238.099 km/h or 66 km per second. It will make it's closest approach to Earth at only 0.30 AU and 1.28 AU from the Sun.
The closest approach will occur on February 12 2019.
The comet should easily be seen with binoculars, however the best view will still be in the scope.
To find this comet you will need to turn your attention to the constellation Leo as it passes through it.
On the 12th it will be approximately 3° from Regulus at around midnight.
The magnitudes for this comet vary, as they do for most. At best it should reach Mag 6.4, again, these are estimates and may vary wildly, some claim 5.6
Below is a ephemeris chart created by In the Sky.org and kindly reproduced here by permission. A link to the webpage is available under the "Useful links" tab to the right of this page,
Below this chart are two images courtesy of SkySafari that show the location on the 12th February 2019 at approximately midnight.
So make the most of this comet while you can, It orbits the sun every 934 years, so next time it will be visible in our night skies will be in 2952!
If the clouds magically clear out here I will be out there hunting for this exciting new comet, hope to catch you all out there!
These times are Central African Time or CAT(GMT+2).
| Ephemeris for C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) | |||||||||||
| Date | Age of | Right | Declination | Rise | Culm | Set | Approx | Observable | Constellation | ||
| Moon | Ascension | Mag. | (hover mouse) | ||||||||
| 2019 | Feb | 10 | 04 days | 11h11m51s | +06°28'08" | 19:56 | 01:48 | 07:36 | 5.1 | 21:36 until 04:28 | Leo |
| 2019 | Feb | 11 | 05 days | 10h49m48s | +10°14'02" | 19:39 | 01:22 | 07:01 | 5.1 | 21:20 until 04:29 | Leo |
| 2019 | Feb | 12 | 06 days | 10h25m45s | +14°08'10" | 19:21 | 00:54 | 06:24 | 5.0 | 21:04 until 04:30 | Leo |
| 2019 | Feb | 13 | 07 days | 10h00m01s | +18°00'08" | 19:01 | 00:25 | 05:45 | 5.0 | 20:48 until 03:57 | Leo |
| 2019 | Feb | 14 | 08 days | 09h33m11s | +21°38'33" | 18:40 | 23:50 | 05:04 | 5.0 | 20:33 until 03:11 | Leo |
| 2019 | Feb | 15 | 09 days | 09h05m58s | +24°53'26" | 18:18 | 23:19 | 04:24 | 5.1 | 20:18 until 02:24 | Cancer |
| 2019 | Feb | 16 | 10 days | 08h39m10s | +27°38'30" | 17:55 | 22:48 | 03:45 | 5.2 | 20:04 until 01:36 | Cancer |
| 2019 | Feb | 17 | 11 days | 08h13m31s | +29°51'41" | 17:33 | 22:19 | 03:09 | 5.4 | 19:51 until 00:50 | Cancer |
| 2019 | Feb | 18 | 12 days | 07h49m33s | +31°34'42" | 17:10 | 21:51 | 02:36 | 5.5 | 19:39 until 00:07 | Gemini |
| 2019 | Feb | 19 | 13 days | 07h27m38s | +32°51'26" | 16:49 | 21:25 | 02:05 | 5.7 | 19:36 until 23:23 | Gemini |
| 2019 | Feb | 20 | 15 days | 07h07m52s | +33°46'40" | 16:28 | 21:02 | 01:39 | 5.9 | 19:35 until 22:46 | Gemini |
| 2019 | Feb | 21 | 16 days | 06h50m15s | +34°25'04" | 16:09 | 20:40 | 01:15 | 6.0 | 19:34 until 22:14 | Gemini |
| 2019 | Feb | 22 | 17 days | 06h34m38s | +34°50'41" | 15:51 | 20:21 | 00:54 | 6.2 | 19:33 until 21:49 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 23 | 18 days | 06h20m50s | +35°06'51" | 15:35 | 20:03 | 00:35 | 6.4 | 19:32 until 21:28 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 24 | 19 days | 06h08m40s | +35°16'06" | 15:19 | 19:47 | 00:18 | 6.6 | 19:31 until 21:10 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 25 | 20 days | 05h57m56s | +35°20'22" | 15:05 | 19:32 | 00:04 | 6.8 | 19:30 until 20:54 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 26 | 21 days | 05h48m26s | +35°21'07" | 14:51 | 19:19 | 23:46 | 6.9 | 19:29 until 20:41 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 27 | 22 days | 05h40m02s | +35°19'24" | 14:39 | 19:06 | 23:34 | 7.1 | 19:27 until 20:29 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Feb | 28 | 23 days | 05h32m34s | +35°15'59" | 14:27 | 18:55 | 23:23 | 7.3 | 19:26 until 20:18 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 01 | 24 days | 05h25m55s | +35°11'26" | 14:17 | 18:44 | 23:12 | 7.4 | 19:25 until 20:09 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 02 | 25 days | 05h19m58s | +35°06'10" | 14:06 | 18:35 | 23:03 | 7.6 | 19:24 until 20:00 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 03 | 26 days | 05h14m39s | +35°00'29" | 13:57 | 18:25 | 22:54 | 7.7 | 19:23 until 19:52 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 04 | 27 days | 05h09m52s | +34°54'34" | 13:48 | 18:17 | 22:46 | 7.9 | 19:21 until 19:45 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 05 | 28 days | 05h05m33s | +34°48'36" | 13:39 | 18:08 | 22:38 | 8.0 | 19:20 until 19:38 | Auriga |
| 2019 | Mar | 06 | 28 days | 05h01m40s | +34°42'41" | 13:31 | 18:01 | 22:30 | 8.1 | 19:19 until 19:31 | Auriga |
| All times computed for Durban (latitude -29.86; longitude 31.03) and expressed in Durban time. Ephemeris by Dominic Ford – https://in-the-sky.org/ephemeris.php | |||||||||||
| Ephemeris for C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | Age of | Right | Declination | Rise | Culm | Set | Approx | Observable | Constellation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moon | Ascension | Mag. | (hover mouse) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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