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Comet

Tempel-Swift-LINEAR

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11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.423 AU
True anomaly
339.08°
Distance from Earth
0.486 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 Tempel-Swift-LINEAR — 1.423 AU from the Sun Tempel-Swift-LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is 0.486 AU from Earth today (4.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 20m 03s
Declination
+38° 34′ 33″
Constellation
Andromeda
Distance from Earth
0.48 AU
Elongation from the Sun
145.16° — 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
3.283 AU
Eccentricity
0.577
Inclination
14.42°
Orbital period
5.95 years
Perihelion
1.389 AU
Aphelion
5.178 AU
Longitude of ascending node
238.91°
Argument of periapsis
167.95°
Epoch · J2000
2459275.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 157.0 LD
0.4035 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.842

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
1,508
Data arc
25.19 years
First observed
1 August 2001
Last observed
8 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.3
15.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 11P · 11P/1869 W1 · 11P/1880 T1 · 11P/2001 X3 · 1869 III · 1869c · 1880 IV · 1880e

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-07-22 08:20:00 Juptr 0.5192 AU 202.1 LD 6 km/s
2042-04-01 23:40:00 Juptr 1.7191 AU 669.0 LD 9.2 km/s
2101-05-15 09:10:00 Juptr 1.1891 AU 462.7 LD 7.3 km/s
2113-05-14 13:25:00 Jupiter 0.4345 AU 169.1 LD 5.5 km/s
2113-05-14 13:53:00 Juptr 0.4344 AU 169.1 LD 5.5 km/s
2125-02-22 00:37:00 Juptr 0.8128 AU 316.3 LD 6.2 km/s
2196-09-04 04:50:00 Juptr 1.4026 AU 545.8 LD 7.5 km/s

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

Sources