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Comet

Borrelly

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19P/Borrelly

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.29 AU
True anomaly
200.99°
Distance from Earth
5.898 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Borrelly — 5.29 AU from the Sun Borrelly
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Borrelly is 5.898 AU from Earth today (49.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 03m 19s
Declination
-28° 26′ 09″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
5.9 AU
Elongation from the Sun
48.04° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
3.607 AU
Eccentricity
0.6379
Inclination
29.32°
Orbital period
6.85 years
Perihelion
1.306 AU
Aphelion
5.908 AU
Longitude of ascending node
74.3°
Argument of periapsis
351.86°
Epoch · J2000
2459286.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 125.6 LD
0.3228 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.561

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,462
Data arc
10.95 years
First observed
29 July 2014
Last observed
12 July 2025
Residual RMS
0.63 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
4 September 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.40 km

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.022
Absolute magnitude (H)
9.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 14
9.9

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Borrelly
Discovery date
28 December 1904
Discovery site
Marseilles, France

Also known as 19P · 1904e · 1905 II · 1911 VIII · 1911e · 1918 IV · 1918c · 1925 VIII

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2066-05-02 12:30:00 Juptr 0.7471 AU 290.7 LD 7.5 km/s
2102-06-15 17:38:00 Juptr 0.5399 AU 210.1 LD 7.9 km/s
2113-07-19 11:18:00 Juptr 1.5433 AU 600.6 LD 10.2 km/s
2149-09-18 20:14:00 Juptr 0.5019 AU 195.3 LD 7.4 km/s
2196-09-13 15:11:00 Juptr 0.6823 AU 265.5 LD 7.4 km/s

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

Sources