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Comet

Arend

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50P/Arend

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.475 AU
True anomaly
150.91°
Distance from Earth
6.436 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 — 5.475 AU from the Sun Arend
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Arend is 6.436 AU from Earth today (53.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 52m 52s
Declination
-11° 36′ 04″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
6.43 AU
Elongation from the Sun
14.32° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
4.087 AU
Eccentricity
0.5306
Inclination
19.16°
Orbital period
8.26 years
Perihelion
1.918 AU
Aphelion
6.256 AU
Longitude of ascending node
355.31°
Argument of periapsis
49.04°
Epoch · J2000
2455743.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 380.0 LD
0.9764 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.692

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,874
Data arc
25.75 years
First observed
3 August 1999
Last observed
2 May 2025
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
1 October 2025

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.95 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 9
13.9

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Arend, Silvio
Discovery date
4 October 1951
Discovery site
Royal Observatory, Uccle, Belgium

Also known as 50P · 1951 X · 1951j · 1959 V · 1959c · 1967 VI · 1967l · 1975 VI

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2055-05-04 03:19:00 Juptr 1.7569 AU 683.7 LD 5.8 km/s
2076-09-03 22:47:00 Juptr 1.6101 AU 626.6 LD 5 km/s
2099-10-14 03:51:00 Juptr 0.8938 AU 347.9 LD 5.9 km/s
2123-07-15 19:36:00 Juptr 0.6955 AU 270.7 LD 7.1 km/s
2147-08-14 20:18:00 Juptr 1.6977 AU 660.7 LD 10.7 km/s
2185-03-25 03:39:00 Juptr 1.8107 AU 704.7 LD 9.1 km/s

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

Sources