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Comet

Giacobini

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205P/Giacobini-C

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.786 AU
True anomaly
208.55°
Distance from Earth
5.751 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 Giacobini — 4.786 AU from the Sun Giacobini
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Giacobini is 5.751 AU from Earth today (47.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 20m 13s
Declination
-01° 30′ 08″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.75 AU
Elongation from the Sun
13.78° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
3.54 AU
Eccentricity
0.5687
Inclination
15.31°
Orbital period
6.66 years
Perihelion
1.527 AU
Aphelion
5.553 AU
Longitude of ascending node
179.63°
Argument of periapsis
154.27°
Epoch · J2000
2454679.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 207.2 LD
0.5324 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.779

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
66
Data arc
112.1 years
First observed
4 September 1896
Last observed
24 September 2008
Residual RMS
0.99 ″
Solution · Nick Mastrodemos
24 September 2008

Discovery & classification

Also known as 205P-C

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-12-21 21:36:00 Juptr 0.9646 AU 375.4 LD 8.1 km/s
2051-02-22 12:18:00 Juptr 0.9283 AU 361.3 LD 5.4 km/s
2099-04-10 11:06:00 Juptr 0.8869 AU 345.2 LD 7.9 km/s
2110-08-03 16:05:00 Juptr 0.8443 AU 328.6 LD 5.5 km/s
2158-06-29 08:07:00 Juptr 1.2904 AU 502.2 LD 8.9 km/s
2169-12-18 12:44:00 Juptr 0.767 AU 298.5 LD 5.5 km/s

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

Sources