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Comet

Hill

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496P/Hill

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.318 AU
True anomaly
130.05°
Distance from Earth
6.221 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 Hill — 5.318 AU from the Sun Hill
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hill is 6.221 AU from Earth today (51.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 21m 23s
Declination
-16° 42′ 51″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
6.23 AU
Elongation from the Sun
22.12° — 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
6.079 AU
Eccentricity
0.7335
Inclination
14.83°
Orbital period
14.99 years
Perihelion
1.62 AU
Aphelion
10.538 AU
Longitude of ascending node
63.82°
Argument of periapsis
42.16°
Epoch · J2000
2459469.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 260.1 LD
0.6683 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.276

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,688
Data arc
15.7 years
First observed
14 October 2009
Last observed
28 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 September 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 20.3
11.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 496P · 496P/2010 A3 · 496P/2024 S3

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-02-28 09:24:00 Juptr 1.3007 AU 506.2 LD 8.3 km/s
2140-06-19 03:58:00 Juptr 1.1925 AU 464.1 LD 12.2 km/s
2172-08-25 04:49:00 Juptr 1.7213 AU 669.9 LD 7.8 km/s

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

Sources