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Comet Near-Earth

Wirtanen

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46P/Wirtanen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.076 AU
True anomaly
173.97°
Distance from Earth
5.716 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 Wirtanen — 5.076 AU from the Sun Wirtanen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Wirtanen is 5.716 AU from Earth today (47.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 12m 00s
Declination
-19° 21′ 27″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
5.72 AU
Elongation from the Sun
45.61° — 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
3.093 AU
Eccentricity
0.6588
Inclination
11.75°
Orbital period
5.44 years
Perihelion
1.055 AU
Aphelion
5.13 AU
Longitude of ascending node
82.16°
Argument of periapsis
356.34°
Epoch · J2000
2458465.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 27.8 LD
0.0713 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.818

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
4,224
Data arc
10.11 years
First observed
30 October 2013
Last observed
10 December 2023
Residual RMS
0.45 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
21 February 2024

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.60 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.8
16.6

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Wirtanen, Carl A.
Discovery date
15 January 1948
Discovery site
Lick Observatory, California

Also known as 46P · 1947 XIII · 1948b · 1954 XI · 1954j · 1960m · 1961 IV · 1967 XIV

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 16 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-11-25 14:03:00 Juptr 0.5609 AU 218.3 LD 6.8 km/s
2054-11-19 03:50:00 Juptr 0.1166 AU 45.4 LD 6.5 km/s
2054-11-19 03:50:00 Jupiter 0.1166 AU 45.4 LD 6.5 km/s
2090-08-10 11:53:00 Juptr 1.9819 AU 771.3 LD 10.4 km/s
2115-06-08 10:26:00 Juptr 0.8648 AU 336.6 LD 5.5 km/s
2151-01-13 12:39:00 Juptr 1.344 AU 523.0 LD 7.5 km/s
2161-11-11 18:17:00 Juptr 1.9048 AU 741.3 LD 10.5 km/s
2197-03-16 01:50:00 Juptr 0.2051 AU 79.8 LD 6.1 km/s
2197-03-16 01:50:00 Jupiter 0.2051 AU 79.8 LD 6.1 km/s

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

Sources