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Comet

Slaughter-Burnham

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56P/Slaughter-Burnham

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.958 AU
True anomaly
264.82°
Distance from Earth
4.148 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 Slaughter-Burnham — 3.958 AU from the Sun Slaughter-Burnham
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Slaughter-Burnham is 4.148 AU from Earth today (34.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 52m 45s
Declination
-28° 54′ 53″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
4.16 AU
Elongation from the Sun
71.52° — well clear of the Sun

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
5.086 AU
Eccentricity
0.5073
Inclination
8.15°
Orbital period
11.47 years
Perihelion
2.506 AU
Aphelion
7.666 AU
Longitude of ascending node
346.04°
Argument of periapsis
44.22°
Epoch · J2000
2456516.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 590.9 LD
1.5184 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.71

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,986
Data arc
13.52 years
First observed
15 July 2004
Last observed
23 January 2018
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
16 October 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.56 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 14.8
9.3

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Slaughter, C. D.
Discovery date
27 January 1959
Discovery site
Lowell Observatory

Also known as 56P · 1958 VI · 1959a · 1969f · 1970 V · 1981 XVIII · 1981i · 1992w

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2063-09-21 12:04:00 Juptr 1.681 AU 654.2 LD 10.5 km/s
2075-03-27 19:52:00 Juptr 0.3041 AU 118.4 LD 7.5 km/s
2075-03-27 19:52:00 Jupiter 0.3041 AU 118.4 LD 7.5 km/s
2153-08-02 00:15:00 Juptr 1.9468 AU 757.6 LD 6.9 km/s

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

Sources