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Comet

Wolf-Harrington

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43P/Wolf-Harrington

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.746 AU
True anomaly
99.35°
Distance from Earth
4.737 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 Wolf-Harrington — 3.746 AU from the Sun Wolf-Harrington
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Wolf-Harrington is 4.737 AU from Earth today (39.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 39m 58s
Declination
-15° 06′ 06″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
4.61° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
4.307 AU
Eccentricity
0.4386
Inclination
9.39°
Orbital period
8.94 years
Perihelion
2.418 AU
Aphelion
6.196 AU
Longitude of ascending node
244.41°
Argument of periapsis
224.05°
Epoch · J2000
2459065.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 563.0 LD
1.4467 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.821

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,619
Data arc
17.03 years
First observed
24 May 2009
Last observed
6 June 2026
Residual RMS
0.73 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
22 July 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.80 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.8
10.6

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Wolf, Max
Discovery date
22 December 1924
Discovery site
Heidelberg, Germany

Also known as 43P · 1924 IV · 1924d · 1951k · 1952 II · 1964g · 1965 III · 1970o

Named

Close approaches 15 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2054-11-08 12:12:00 Juptr 1.0896 AU 424.1 LD 8.5 km/s
2069-04-23 08:46:00 Juptr 1.5315 AU 596.0 LD 8.9 km/s
2104-04-20 16:48:00 Juptr 1.2304 AU 478.8 LD 4.2 km/s
2137-08-12 10:12:00 Jupiter 0.173 AU 67.3 LD 6.2 km/s
2137-08-12 10:12:00 Juptr 0.173 AU 67.3 LD 6.2 km/s
2161-03-22 09:22:00 Jupiter 0.2855 AU 111.1 LD 6.8 km/s
2161-03-22 09:22:00 Juptr 0.2855 AU 111.1 LD 6.8 km/s
2175-08-22 08:47:00 Juptr 1.669 AU 649.5 LD 10.2 km/s

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

Sources