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Comet

Urata-Niijima

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112P/Urata-Niijima

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.459 AU
True anomaly
7.15°
Distance from Earth
0.966 AU
As of
11 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Urata-Niijima — 1.459 AU from the Sun Urata-Niijima
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Urata-Niijima is 0.966 AU from Earth today (8.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 03m 04s
Declination
+40° 13′ 51″
Constellation
Auriga
Distance from Earth
0.96 AU
Elongation from the Sun
96.1° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
3.531 AU
Eccentricity
0.5879
Inclination
24.21°
Orbital period
6.63 years
Perihelion
1.455 AU
Aphelion
5.607 AU
Longitude of ascending node
31.91°
Argument of periapsis
21.41°
Epoch · J2000
2457090.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 187.8 LD
0.4826 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.689

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
671
Data arc
20.18 years
First observed
2 August 2006
Last observed
8 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
9 October 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.90 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.3
14

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Urata, T. and Niijima, T.
Discovery date
30 October 1986
Discovery site
Ojima

Also known as 112P · 112P/1986 UD · 112P/1993 U1 · 1986 XVI · 1986o · 1993 XII · 1993q

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-04-18 14:34:00 Juptr 1.2149 AU 472.8 LD 6.2 km/s
2041-09-03 04:17:00 Juptr 0.9543 AU 371.4 LD 9.1 km/s
2089-02-07 07:48:00 Juptr 0.6394 AU 248.8 LD 6.3 km/s
2101-03-08 06:56:00 Juptr 1.9453 AU 757.1 LD 11.9 km/s
2148-10-23 01:15:00 Juptr 1.0725 AU 417.4 LD 5.9 km/s
2160-03-18 21:19:00 Juptr 0.9289 AU 361.5 LD 9.1 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources