Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) moves past Arcturus as it heads north during January. Remains visible with binoculars and small telescopes.

Comet Catalina is now well placed for observation in the morning sky for observers at Northern Hemisphere latitudes. For the last few months the comet has been brighter than 7th magnitude and therefore within the range of binoculars and small scopes. Catalina hasn't quite reached naked eye brightness and now seems unlikely to make it, but even so it should remain at this brightness level for a number of weeks to come. Visually it shows a small faint tail of a degree in length. Photographically the comet looks superb.

Location and star charts

From mid-northern latitudes, Catalina is observable at the end of December from about 2am local time as it continues on its almost direct northwards path. On January 1st it passes less than one degree west of bright orange star Arcturus (mag. -0.04). The close proximity to Arcturus is a mixed blessing; the advantage easy to find the comet, the disadvantage the comet is vastly overpowered in brightness by the star. For comparison, Arcturus is 250x the brighter of the pair. Of course in reality, Catalina is nowhere near Arcturus with the star a few million more times distant!

On January 17th, Catalina makes its second and last flyby of Earth. On this day it approaches to within 0.72 AU or 108 million kilometres (67 million miles) of our planet and is predicted to shine at magnitude +6.2. It will be amongst the stars of Ursa Major. After this the comet will gradually fade in brightness although at the same time from northern latitudes appearing higher in the sky. From southern latitudes it's hardly observable anymore.

The finder charts below show the positions of Catalina from December 18, 2015 to January 10, 2016.

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) Finder Chart from January 1st to January 10th, 2016 - pdf format (credit:- freestarcharts)

Comet Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) Finder Chart from December 18th, 2015 to January 1st, 2016 - pdf format (credit:- freestarcharts)

C/2013 US10 (Catalina) Data (at epoch November 15, 2014)

Name C/2013 US10 (Catalina) Type Comet Discoverer Catalina Sky Survey Discovery date October 31, 2013 Perihelion (AU) 0.82290 Eccentricity 1.00040 Orbital period (years) unknown Inclination (degrees) 148.8733 Longitude of ascending node (degrees) 186.1371 Perihelion November 15th, 2015

(C2013/US10) Catalina Data Table

16-Dec-2015 14h 17m 34s -01d 02m 34s 6.7 1.234 Virgo 17-Dec-2015 14h 17m 28s -00d 09m 36s 6.7 1.212 Virgo 18-Dec-2015 14h 17m 22s 00d 45m 20s 6.6 1.190 Virgo 19-Dec-2015 14h 17m 15s 01d 42m 21s 6.6 1.168 Virgo 20-Dec-2015 14h 17m 08s 02d 41m 35s 6.6 1.147 Virgo 21-Dec-2015 14h 17m 00s 03d 43m 10s 6.6 1.125 Virgo 22-Dec-2015 14h 16m 52s 04d 47m 15s 6.5 1.103 Virgo 23-Dec-2015 14h 16m 42s 05d 53m 59s 6.5 1.082 Virgo 24-Dec-2015 14h 16m 31s 07d 03m 32s 6.5 1.060 Virgo 25-Dec-2015 14h 16m 19s 08d 16m 03s 6.5 1.039 Boötes 26-Dec-2015 14h 16m 05s 09d 31m 44s 6.5 1.018 Boötes 27-Dec-2015 14h 15m 50s 10d 50m 43s 6.4 0.997 Boötes 28-Dec-2015 14h 15m 33s 12d 13m 14s 6.4 0.976 Boötes 29-Dec-2015 14h 15m 13s 13d 39m 25s 6.4 0.956 Boötes 30-Dec-2015 14h 14m 52s 15d 09m 29s 6.4 0.936 Boötes 31-Dec-2015 14h 14m 27s 16d 43m 35s 6.4 0.917 Boötes 01-Jan-2016 14h 13m 59s 18d 21m 48s 6.4 0.898 Boötes 02-Jan-2016 14h 13m 28s 20d 04m 29s 6.4 0.880 Boötes 03-Jan-2016 14h 12m 53s 21d 51m 41s 6.4 0.863 Boötes 04-Jan-2016 14h 12m 13s 23d 43m 30s 6.3 0.846 Boötes 05-Jan-2016 14h 11m 28s 25d 40m 01s 6.3 0.830 Boötes 06-Jan-2016 14h 10m 37s 27d 41m 18s 6.3 0.815 Boötes 07-Jan-2016 14h 09m 40s 29d 47m 20s 6.3 0.800 Boötes 08-Jan-2016 14h 08m 35s 31d 58m 03s 6.3 0.787 Boötes 09-Jan-2016 14h 07m 22s 34d 13m 22s 6.3 0.775 Canes Venatici 10-Jan-2016 14h 05m 59s 36d 33m 03s 6.3 0.764 Canes Venatici 11-Jan-2016 14h 04m 24s 38d 56m 52s 6.3 0.754 Canes Venatici 12-Jan-2016 14h 02m 36s 41d 24m 25s 6.3 0.746 Canes Venatici 13-Jan-2016 14h 00m 32s 43d 55m 16s 6.3 0.738 Canes Venatici 14-Jan-2016 13h 58m 11s 46d 28m 54s 6.3 0.733 Canes Venatici 15-Jan-2016 13h 55m 28s 49d 04m 41s 6.3 0.729 Ursa Major 16-Jan-2016 13h 52m 21s 51d 41m 54s 6.2 0.726 Ursa Major 17-Jan-2016 13h 48m 43s 54d 19m 49s 6.2 0.725 Ursa Major 18-Jan-2016 13h 44m 28s 56d 57m 34s 6.2 0.725 Ursa Major 19-Jan-2016 13h 39m 30s 59d 34m 18s 6.3 0.727 Ursa Major 20-Jan-2016 13h 33m 36s 62d 09m 04s 6.3 0.731 Ursa Major 21-Jan-2016 13h 26m 34s 64d 40m 54s 6.4 0.736 Draco 22-Jan-2016 13h 18m 05s 67d 08m 46s 6.4 0.743 Draco 23-Jan-2016 13h 07m 46s 69d 31m 34s 6.5 0.751 Ursa Minor 24-Jan-2016 12h 55m 03s 71d 48m 02s 6.5 0.761 Draco 25-Jan-2016 12h 39m 12s 73d 56m 43s 6.6 0.772 Draco 26-Jan-2016 12h 19m 14s 75d 55m 44s 6.7 0.785 Draco 27-Jan-2016 11h 53m 53s 77d 42m 41s 6.7 0.799 Camelopardalis 28-Jan-2016 11h 21m 47s 79d 14m 21s 6.7 0.814 Draco 29-Jan-2016 10h 41m 53s 80d 26m 41s 6.8 0.830 Draco 30-Jan-2016 09h 54m 33s 81d 15m 18s 6.8 0.848 Draco 31-Jan-2016 09h 02m 43s 81d 37m 01s 6.9 0.866 Camelopardalis

See also

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) moves past Kemble's Cascade during the last week of February 2016. Visible with binoculars and small telescopes from northern and tropical latitudes.

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) now fading as it recedes from Earth. Currently moving through the far northern constellations. Remains visible with binoculars and small telescopes.

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) remains visible with binoculars and small telescopes at it moves northwards. This month offers the last good chance to catch a glimpse before it fades significantly.

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) remains an early morning binocular and small telescope object

Catalina (C/2013 US10) an early morning binocular and small telescope comet

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) edges towards naked eye visibility

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) remains visible in the evening from Southern and Equatorial Latitudes during September 2015

Comet Catalina (C/2013 US10) now visible with binoculars from Southern and Equatorial Latitudes

