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Comet Near-Earth

Barnard

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177P/Barnard

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
32.758 AU
True anomaly
168.1°
Distance from Earth
33.198 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Barnard — 32.758 AU from the Sun Barnard
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Barnard is 33.198 AU from Earth today (4.6 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 53m 56s
Declination
-06° 02′ 05″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
33.19 AU
Elongation from the Sun
63.72° — well clear of the Sun

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
24.305 AU
Eccentricity
0.9544
Inclination
31.22°
Orbital period
119.8 years
Perihelion
1.107 AU
Aphelion
47.502 AU
Longitude of ascending node
272.07°
Argument of periapsis
60.45°
Epoch · J2000
2453849.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 120.7 LD
0.3102 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.317

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,702
Data arc
117.5 years
First observed
24 June 1889
Last observed
11 December 2006
Residual RMS
0.83 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13
15.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 177P · 177P/1889 M1 · 177P/2006 M3

Near-Earth Object Named

Sources