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Comet

Comas Sola

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32P/Comas Sola

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.779 AU
True anomaly
146.23°
Distance from Earth
6.491 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 Comas Sola — 5.779 AU from the Sun Comas Sola
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Comas Sola is 6.491 AU from Earth today (54.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 33m 51s
Declination
-24° 56′ 36″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
6.5 AU
Elongation from the Sun
40.58° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.499 AU
Eccentricity
0.5567
Inclination
9.94°
Orbital period
9.54 years
Perihelion
1.994 AU
Aphelion
7.003 AU
Longitude of ascending node
57.66°
Argument of periapsis
53.3°
Epoch · J2000
2458833.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 400.5 LD
1.029 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.678

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,872
Data arc
11.69 years
First observed
24 September 2013
Last observed
4 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
4 September 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
4.20 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 12
10.3

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Comas Sola, Josep
Discovery date
6 November 1926
Discovery site
Fabra Observatory, Spain

Also known as 32P · 1926f · 1927 III · 1935 IV · 1935c · 1944 II · 1951h · 1960f

Named

Close approaches 14 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2067-04-21 14:22:00 Juptr 1.8676 AU 726.8 LD 5.6 km/s
2081-01-15 03:20:00 Juptr 1.3521 AU 526.2 LD 10.6 km/s
2114-05-10 13:08:00 Juptr 1.4895 AU 579.7 LD 5.4 km/s
2128-04-10 11:25:00 Juptr 1.7667 AU 687.6 LD 11.9 km/s
2163-04-26 17:14:00 Juptr 1.8083 AU 703.7 LD 5.6 km/s
2196-12-21 15:00:00 Juptr 0.5235 AU 203.7 LD 8.8 km/s

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

Sources