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Comet Near-Earth

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317P/WISE

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.359 AU
True anomaly
135.82°
Distance from Earth
2.402 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 WISE — 3.359 AU from the Sun WISE
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. WISE is 2.402 AU from Earth today (20.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 27m 31s
Declination
+26° 09′ 11″
Constellation
Pisces
Distance from Earth
2.4 AU
Elongation from the Sun
160.86° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
2.957 AU
Eccentricity
0.5802
Inclination
11.96°
Orbital period
5.08 years
Perihelion
1.241 AU
Aphelion
4.672 AU
Longitude of ascending node
275.69°
Argument of periapsis
334.74°
Epoch · J2000
2456433.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 93.7 LD
0.2406 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.961

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
93
Data arc
14.51 years
First observed
28 July 2005
Last observed
1 February 2020
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
19.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
19.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 317P · 317P/2010 K2 · 317P/2015 B3

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 13 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of WISE at 2051-06-07 08:49 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2051-06-07 08:49 UTC close approach of WISE. Catalogue miss distance 144.3 LD · 5.55 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2051-06-04 to 2051-06-10, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 144.3 LD · 5.55 × 10⁷ km 2051-06-07 08:49 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2051-06-07 08:49 UTC close approach of WISE. Catalogue miss distance 144.3 LD · 5.55 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2051-06-04 to 2051-06-10, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2048-06-14 03:27:00 Juptr 0.8474 AU 329.8 LD 5.4 km/s
2051-06-07 08:49:00 Earth 0.3708 AU 144.3 LD 7.1 km/s
2096-03-10 11:09:00 Juptr 0.5272 AU 205.2 LD 5.6 km/s
2131-08-25 16:52:00 Juptr 0.7025 AU 273.4 LD 5.3 km/s
2179-02-24 15:38:00 Juptr 0.6117 AU 238.1 LD 5.3 km/s
2191-01-11 02:18:00 Juptr 1.692 AU 658.5 LD 9.2 km/s

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

Sources