How do I find Comet 46P/Wirtanen in the sky?

We have generated¹ a series of finder charts that show where comet Wirtanen is located with respect to the stars from November 2018 through February 2019.

Each chart has indicator circles, labeled with the date marking the comet's position at O hr Universal Time. Throughout the day, the comet will progress toward the next indicator point. You'll need to adjust for your time zone and the time of day for the exact position, though the comet is bright enough that it should be visible once you get close to the general position. Lines of Right Ascension and Declination (J2000) are shown, with labels along the periphery, to help in locating the comet. Constellations are given in the table below.

We've provided two sequences: one with a larger field of view that shows more stars for zeroing in on the postion, and a zoomed-in version that can be used to refine your search, if needed. There are also two versions of each chart: one with white stars on a black background and one with black stars on a white background.

Summary view of Wirtanen's motion from November 2018 through February 2019.

How to use these charts

Use these charts to identify the stars in the sky around the comet, and star hop from patterns of bright stars to the comet.

Select the star chart for the date of interest (start with the wide field view if you're not familiar with the sky). The table also lists the constellation where the comet is located to get you started. The full-sky plot above can also be used to orient yourself, with Orion and the Pleiades as good starting references). Locate the brightest stars in the finder chart and match the patterns to those in the sky. Then you can use the plotted path to figure out where the comet should be relative to the star patterns. (Note that the comet positions are given for midnight UT, so depending on when you are looking it will lie somewhere in between two marks in the chart.)

Note that at its closest approach (December 16), Wirtanen will be only a few degrees away from the Pleiades star cluster, which will act as a great pointer!

Star Charts - Wide-field

Black Background	White Background	Constellation(s)
Nov 01 - Dec 11	Nov 01 - Dec 11	Fornax, Cetus, Eridanus
Dec 09 - Dec 18	Dec 09 - Dec 18	Eridanus, Cetus, Taurus
Dec 16 - Dec 25	Dec 16 - Dec 25	Taurus, Perseus, Auriga
Dec 20 - Jan 07	Dec 20 - Jan 07	Perseus, Auriga, Lynx
Dec 26 - Jan 09	Dec 26 - Jan 09	Auriga, Lynx
Jan 02 - Jan 30	Jan 02 - Jan 30	Lynx, Ursa Major
Jan 24 - Feb 26	Jan 24 - Feb 26	Ursa Major

Star Charts - Narrow-field

Black Background	White Background	Constellation(s)
Nov 01 - Nov 23	Nov 01 - Nov 23	Fornax
Nov 20 - Nov 27	Nov 20 - Nov 27	Fornax
Nov 25 - Nov 30	Nov 25 - Nov 30	Fornax, Cetus
Nov 30 - Dec 03	Nov 30 - Dec 03	Cetus
Dec 03 - Dec 05	Dec 03 - Dec 05	Cetus, Eridanus
Dec 04 - Dec 08	Dec 04 - Dec 08	Eridanus
Dec 07 - Dec 10	Dec 07 - Dec 10	Eridanus
Dec 10 - Dec 12	Dec 10 - Dec 12	Cetus
Dec 12 - Dec 14	Dec 12 - Dec 14	Cetus, Taurus
Dec 14 - Dec 16	Dec 14 - Dec 16	Taurus
Dec 16 - Dec 18	Dec 16 - Dec 18	Taurus (near Pleaides)
Dec 18 - Dec 20	Dec 18 - Dec 20	Taurus, Perseus
Dec 20 - Dec 22	Dec 20 - Dec 22	Perseus
Dec 22 - Dec 25	Dec 22 - Dec 25	Auriga
Dec 25 - Dec 29	Dec 25 - Dec 29	Auriga, Lynx
Dec 27 - Jan 02	Dec 27 - Jan 02	Auriga, Lynx
Jan 01 - Jan 09	Jan 01 - Jan 09	Lynx
Jan 08 - Jan 13	Jan 08 - Jan 13	Lynx, Ursa Major
Jan 12 - Jan 21	Jan 12 - Jan 21	Lynx, Ursa Major
Jan 14 - Feb 04	Jan 14 - Feb 04	Ursa Major
Jan 30 - Feb 16	Jan 30 - Feb 16	Ursa Major
Feb 11 - Feb 26	Feb 11 - Feb 26	Ursa Major

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^1. We used the open-source program Stellarium to generate these plots. It can be found here.↩