Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Gibbs

Add to an observing list or journal →

313P/Gibbs

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.883 AU
True anomaly
81.3°
Distance from Earth
2.598 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 Gibbs — 2.883 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 2.598 AU from Earth today (21.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 51m 19s
Declination
+17° 51′ 49″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
2.59 AU
Elongation from the Sun
96.81° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.165 AU
Eccentricity
0.2377
Inclination
10.95°
Orbital period
5.63 years
Perihelion
2.413 AU
Aphelion
3.918 AU
Longitude of ascending node
106.2°
Argument of periapsis
254.06°
Epoch · J2000
2458178.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 559.7 LD
1.4382 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.132

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
213
Data arc
22 years
First observed
22 September 2003
Last observed
23 September 2025
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
4 September 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 313P · 313P/2003 S10 · 313P/2014 S4

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-12-30 06:18:00 Juptr 1.7534 AU 682.4 LD 0.8 km/s
2039-06-19 18:34:00 Juptr 1.7154 AU 667.6 LD 2 km/s
2050-01-07 04:51:00 Juptr 1.9558 AU 761.2 LD 3.6 km/s
2124-06-28 21:30:00 Juptr 1.8064 AU 703.0 LD 1.4 km/s
2134-12-03 16:14:00 Juptr 1.7143 AU 667.2 LD 1.3 km/s
2145-06-08 10:47:00 Juptr 1.878 AU 730.9 LD 3 km/s

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

Sources