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Comet

Tsuchinshan

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60P/Tsuchinshan 2

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.809 AU
True anomaly
129.9°
Distance from Earth
4.45 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Tsuchinshan — 3.809 AU from the Sun Tsuchinshan
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tsuchinshan is 4.45 AU from Earth today (37.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 05m 27s
Declination
-21° 33′ 55″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
4.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.57° — 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
3.51 AU
Eccentricity
0.5378
Inclination
3.61°
Orbital period
6.58 years
Perihelion
1.623 AU
Aphelion
5.398 AU
Longitude of ascending node
267.58°
Argument of periapsis
216.55°
Epoch · J2000
2458393.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 249.0 LD
0.6398 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.864

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,247
Data arc
13.32 years
First observed
29 October 2011
Last observed
23 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
28 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 23.5
9.6

Discovery & classification

Discovery date
11 January 1965
Discovery site
Purple Mountain Observatory, Nanking

Also known as 60P · 1965 II · 1965c · 1971 X · 1971d · 1978 XVI · 1978p · 1985 X

Named

Close approaches 17 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2057-01-07 06:56:00 Juptr 1.8217 AU 709.0 LD 10.5 km/s
2068-02-23 06:46:00 Jupiter 0.3008 AU 117.1 LD 5.2 km/s
2068-02-23 06:46:00 Juptr 0.3008 AU 117.1 LD 5.2 km/s
2077-12-29 14:57:00 Mars 0.0688 AU 26.8 LD 9.6 km/s
2079-08-06 12:28:00 Juptr 1.5213 AU 592.1 LD 10 km/s
2128-03-02 10:24:00 Juptr 0.874 AU 340.2 LD 7.9 km/s
2139-07-14 14:07:00 Jupiter 0.2754 AU 107.2 LD 5.4 km/s
2139-07-14 14:07:00 Juptr 0.2754 AU 107.2 LD 5.4 km/s
2150-07-31 05:01:00 Juptr 1.2895 AU 501.8 LD 9 km/s
2199-03-19 20:06:00 Juptr 0.3783 AU 147.2 LD 6.7 km/s

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

Sources