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Comet

Arend-Rigaux

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49P/Arend-Rigaux

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.422 AU
True anomaly
143.75°
Distance from Earth
5.293 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 Arend-Rigaux — 4.422 AU from the Sun Arend-Rigaux
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Arend-Rigaux is 5.293 AU from Earth today (44.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 31m 56s
Declination
-04° 33′ 41″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
5.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
26.03° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.567 AU
Eccentricity
0.6002
Inclination
19.06°
Orbital period
6.74 years
Perihelion
1.426 AU
Aphelion
5.708 AU
Longitude of ascending node
118.83°
Argument of periapsis
332.93°
Epoch · J2000
2457055.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 181.1 LD
0.4652 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.711

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
4,486
Data arc
22.02 years
First observed
24 June 2004
Last observed
3 July 2026
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
7 July 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
4.24 km
Rotation period
13.45 hours

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.028
Absolute magnitude (H)
13.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6.5
13.9

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Arend, Silvio and Rigaux, F.
Discovery date
5 February 1951
Discovery site
Uccle, Belgium

Also known as 49P · 1950 VII · 1951b · 1957 VII · 1958b · 1963g · 1964 V · 1970j

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2055-09-04 02:37:00 Juptr 0.862 AU 335.5 LD 6 km/s
2058-12-20 00:46:00 Mars 0.0868 AU 33.8 LD 12.5 km/s
2102-11-27 02:23:00 Juptr 0.9854 AU 383.5 LD 6.1 km/s
2139-01-25 10:55:00 Juptr 1.113 AU 433.2 LD 9.5 km/s
2149-12-23 22:24:00 Juptr 1.2828 AU 499.2 LD 7.3 km/s
2186-07-25 10:41:00 Juptr 0.8064 AU 313.8 LD 8.7 km/s
2197-08-02 01:17:00 Juptr 1.1014 AU 428.6 LD 7 km/s

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

Sources