Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Garradd

Add to an observing list or journal →

259P/Garradd

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.872 AU
True anomaly
32.31°
Distance from Earth
1.27 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 Garradd — 1.872 AU from the Sun Garradd
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Garradd is 1.27 AU from Earth today (10.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
21h 24m 47s
Declination
-38° 44′ 08″
Constellation
Microscopium
Distance from Earth
1.28 AU
Elongation from the Sun
110.27° — 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
2.728 AU
Eccentricity
0.3409
Inclination
15.9°
Orbital period
4.51 years
Perihelion
1.798 AU
Aphelion
3.657 AU
Longitude of ascending node
51.96°
Argument of periapsis
256.58°
Epoch · J2000
2456576.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 334.5 LD
0.8595 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.217

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
90
Data arc
18.23 years
First observed
15 July 2008
Last observed
6 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.84 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 20.3
14.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 259P · 259P/2008 R1

Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2037-01-25 11:58:00 Juptr 1.9947 AU 776.3 LD 3.6 km/s
2073-08-08 12:50:00 Juptr 1.9376 AU 754.0 LD 1.9 km/s
2168-02-21 08:47:00 Juptr 1.9417 AU 755.6 LD 2.4 km/s

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

Sources