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Comet

Klemola

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68P/Klemola

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.577 AU
True anomaly
194.99°
Distance from Earth
8.31 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 Klemola — 7.577 AU from the Sun Klemola
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Klemola is 8.31 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 17m 32s
Declination
+02° 26′ 06″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
8.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
40.88° — 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
4.899 AU
Eccentricity
0.6403
Inclination
11.18°
Orbital period
10.84 years
Perihelion
1.762 AU
Aphelion
8.037 AU
Longitude of ascending node
175.3°
Argument of periapsis
153.84°
Epoch · J2000
2457453.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 294.8 LD
0.7575 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.524

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,680
Data arc
12.75 years
First observed
13 April 2008
Last observed
11 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
25 April 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.20 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11.8
11.2

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Klemola, A. R.
Discovery date
31 October 1965
Discovery site
Yale-Columbia Southern Station, Argentina

Also known as 68P · 1965 VI · 1965j · 1976 X · 1976j · 1987 XIV · 1987i · 68P/1965 U1

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-11-25 04:40:00 Juptr 0.2064 AU 80.3 LD 8.6 km/s
2028-11-25 04:40:00 Jupiter 0.2064 AU 80.3 LD 8.6 km/s
2036-07-04 18:11:00 Satrn 0.8238 AU 320.6 LD 4 km/s
2040-11-16 01:39:00 Juptr 0.8425 AU 327.9 LD 6.7 km/s
2096-03-11 16:20:00 Juptr 0.9052 AU 352.3 LD 6.7 km/s
2108-04-11 17:50:00 Juptr 0.7306 AU 284.3 LD 9.6 km/s
2123-11-15 22:45:00 Satrn 1.2578 AU 489.5 LD 5 km/s

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

Sources