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Comet Near-Earth

Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

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41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.151 AU
True anomaly
208.38°
Distance from Earth
3.374 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 Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak — 4.151 AU from the Sun Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is 3.374 AU from Earth today (28.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 05m 05s
Declination
+09° 11′ 49″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
3.37 AU
Elongation from the Sun
136.71° — well clear of the Sun

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
3.085 AU
Eccentricity
0.6613
Inclination
9.23°
Orbital period
5.42 years
Perihelion
1.045 AU
Aphelion
5.125 AU
Longitude of ascending node
141.06°
Argument of periapsis
62.17°
Epoch · J2000
2457857.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 52.0 LD
0.1337 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.827

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
4,300
Data arc
6.84 years
First observed
10 November 2016
Last observed
13 September 2023
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
29 September 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.70 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
16.9

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Tuttle, Horace
Discovery date
3 May 1858
Discovery site
Harvard College Observatory, Massachusetts

Also known as 41P · 1858 III · 1907 III · 1907c · 1951 IV · 1951f · 1962 V · 1962b

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 24 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak at 2066-05-31 03:50 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2066-05-31 03:50 UTC close approach of Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. Catalogue miss distance 88.8 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2066-05-28 to 2066-06-03, 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. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. approximate Sun 88.8 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km 2066-05-31 03:50 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2066-05-31 03:50 UTC close approach of Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. Catalogue miss distance 88.8 LD · 3.42 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2066-05-28 to 2066-06-03, 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. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-11-26 06:56:00 Juptr 1.7386 AU 676.6 LD 12.2 km/s
2046-09-14 15:27:00 Juptr 0.5106 AU 198.7 LD 6.5 km/s
2059-05-05 07:59:00 Juptr 0.819 AU 318.7 LD 8.6 km/s
2066-05-31 03:50:00 Earth 0.2283 AU 88.8 LD 15.5 km/s
2082-06-08 14:37:00 Earth 0.329 AU 128.0 LD 19.1 km/s
2092-10-06 11:23:00 Mars 0.0622 AU 24.2 LD 16.3 km/s
2106-02-24 13:07:00 Juptr 0.57 AU 221.8 LD 6.4 km/s
2118-07-17 13:21:00 Juptr 1.2923 AU 502.9 LD 10.7 km/s
2125-05-15 14:00:00 Earth 0.0982 AU 38.2 LD 11.1 km/s
2130-05-07 07:38:00 Mars 0.0856 AU 33.3 LD 18.1 km/s

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

Sources