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Comet Near-Earth

Tempel-Tuttle

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55P/Tempel-Tuttle

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
12.129 AU
True anomaly
200.79°
Distance from Earth
13.044 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Tempel-Tuttle — 12.129 AU from the Sun Tempel-Tuttle
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tempel-Tuttle is 13.044 AU from Earth today (1.8 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 38m 13s
Declination
-11° 33′ 31″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
13.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
22.3° — 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
10.338 AU
Eccentricity
0.9056
Inclination
162.49°
Orbital period
33.24 years
Perihelion
0.976 AU
Aphelion
19.7 AU
Longitude of ascending node
235.27°
Argument of periapsis
172.5°
Epoch · J2000
2451040.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 3.3 LD
0.0085 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.637

Orbit quality

Observations used
392
Data arc
132.5 years
First observed
22 December 1865
Last observed
5 July 1998
Residual RMS
0.73 ″
Solution · M.S.W. Keesey
3 January 2002

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.80 km

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.06
Absolute magnitude (H)
10
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 25
10

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Tuttle, Horace
Discovery date
6 January 1866
Discovery site
Harvard College Observatory, Massachusetts

Also known as 55P · 1366 · 1699 II · 1866 I · 1965 IV · 1965i · 55P/1366 U1 · 55P/1699 U1

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 10 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Tempel-Tuttle at 2163-12-18 05:52 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2163-12-18 05:52 UTC close approach of Tempel-Tuttle. Catalogue miss distance 51.6 LD · 1.98 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2163-12-15 to 2163-12-21, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. approximate Sun 51.6 LD · 1.98 × 10⁷ km 2163-12-18 05:52 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2163-12-18 05:52 UTC close approach of Tempel-Tuttle. Catalogue miss distance 51.6 LD · 1.98 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2163-12-15 to 2163-12-21, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-09-01 00:43:00 Juptr 1.5157 AU 589.9 LD 21.2 km/s
2032-06-10 00:58:00 Juptr 1.3225 AU 514.7 LD 27.1 km/s
2064-03-27 09:45:00 Juptr 1.6119 AU 627.3 LD 27.6 km/s
2149-11-06 10:44:00 Urnus 0.5725 AU 222.8 LD 9.1 km/s
2160-08-17 17:03:00 Satrn 0.6841 AU 266.2 LD 16 km/s
2163-12-18 05:52:00 Earth 0.1325 AU 51.6 LD 70.2 km/s
2195-09-01 10:46:00 Juptr 1.3002 AU 506.0 LD 21.8 km/s
2198-06-01 05:58:00 Juptr 1.1873 AU 462.1 LD 26.3 km/s

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

Sources