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Comet

Hill

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232P/Hill

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.557 AU
True anomaly
247.87°
Distance from Earth
3.764 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 Hill — 4.557 AU from the Sun Hill
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hill is 3.764 AU from Earth today (31.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 48m 10s
Declination
-17° 47′ 04″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
3.77 AU
Elongation from the Sun
137.67° — well clear of the Sun

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
4.485 AU
Eccentricity
0.3349
Inclination
14.64°
Orbital period
9.5 years
Perihelion
2.983 AU
Aphelion
5.987 AU
Longitude of ascending node
56.13°
Argument of periapsis
53.42°
Epoch · J2000
2455471.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 789.2 LD
2.0278 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.853

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
297
Data arc
19.32 years
First observed
12 December 1999
Last observed
9 April 2019
Residual RMS
0.81 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.8
7.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 232P · 232P/1999 XO188 · 232P/2009 W1

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2031-02-14 16:46:00 Juptr 1.5827 AU 615.9 LD 8.8 km/s
2046-01-06 08:28:00 Juptr 1.383 AU 538.2 LD 7.4 km/s
2078-07-23 04:25:00 Juptr 1.2435 AU 483.9 LD 7.9 km/s
2093-07-08 04:10:00 Juptr 1.5115 AU 588.2 LD 8.1 km/s
2126-03-12 23:19:00 Juptr 1.6696 AU 649.7 LD 9 km/s
2141-02-06 20:16:00 Juptr 1.3024 AU 506.8 LD 7.6 km/s
2173-06-24 16:08:00 Juptr 0.8904 AU 346.5 LD 6.7 km/s
2188-08-12 08:01:00 Juptr 1.5244 AU 593.3 LD 8.6 km/s

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

Sources