Periodic comet 252P/LINEAR which has an orbital period of 5.33 years has now just past perihelion - closest point to the Sun - and should remain visible with binoculars and small scopes in the early morning April skies. Although only discovered at the turn of the century this comet has surprised astronomers by its brightness, over 100x more than originally predicted. On March 21st it passed just 0.036 A.U. (14 Moon distances) from the Earth and shone at mag. +3.9 and therefore visible to the naked eye.

At closest approach, 252P/LINEAR raced across southern the sky at a rate of almost ten degrees per day. The comet has now slowly down significantly and for the next few months it makes a giant circle in the sky centred on Ophiuchus. Although expected to fade from magnitude +5.7 to +9.1 during April it should still remain bright enough to be seen with binoculars and small scopes throughout the month. However, comets are unpredictable and LINEAR could quite easily dramatically fade over the coming weeks. Therefore, do catch a look at this fuzzy object now the opportunity is good.

LINEAR can currently be seen in the early morning hours north of much brighter planets Mars (mag. -0.5 to -1.4) and Saturn (mag. +0.3). The comet remains close to the celestial equator and therefore can be see from all habitable locations worldwide. During the last week of April the bright Moon will interfere with viewing.

The finder chart below shows the position of LINEAR from April 4th to August 6th, 2016.

Comet 252P/LINEAR Finder Chart from April 4th to August 6th, 2016 - pdf format (credit:- freestarcharts)

252P/LINEAR Data (at epoch August 01, 2015)

252P/LINEAR Data Table