Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 4.352 AU
- True anomaly
- 215.62°
- Distance from Earth
- 5.246 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 12h 00m 49s
- Declination
- +09° 35′ 02″
- Constellation
- Virgo
- Distance from Earth
- 5.24 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 24.32° — 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.
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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
- 3.497 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.6127
- Inclination
- 19.51°
- Orbital period
- 6.54 years
- Perihelion
- 1.355 AU
- Aphelion
- 5.64 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 138.94°
- Argument of periapsis
- 178.11°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2459302.5
- Orbit class · JFc
- Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
- Earth MOID · 133.3 LD
- 0.3426 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 2.709
Orbit quality
Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).
- Observations used
- 1,093
- Data arc
- 7.98 years
- First observed
- 10 March 2014
- Last observed
- 1 March 2022
- Residual RMS
- 0.64 ″
- Solution · Davide Farnocchia
- 23 November 2022
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 1.60 km
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 15.9
- Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 8.5
- 15.9
Discovery & classification
- Discovered by
- d'Arrest, Heinrich Louis
- Discovery date
- 28 June 1851
- Discovery site
- Leipzig, Germany
Also known as 6P · 1678 · 1851 II · 1857 VII · 1870 III · 1870c · 1877 IV · 1877d
Close approaches 22 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2047-08-06 21:44 UTC close approach of d'Arrest. Catalogue miss distance 131.2 LD · 5.04 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2047-08-03 to 2047-08-09, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2039-04-01 09:11:00 | Juptr | 0.9752 AU | 379.5 LD | 8.7 km/s |
| 2047-08-06 21:44:00 | Earth | 0.337 AU | 131.2 LD | 12.3 km/s |
| 2050-09-13 13:14:00 | Jupiter | 0.2473 AU | 96.2 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2050-09-13 13:14:00 | Juptr | 0.2473 AU | 96.2 LD | 6.5 km/s |
| 2062-01-10 02:40:00 | Juptr | 1.9083 AU | 742.7 LD | 10.3 km/s |
| 2098-03-22 20:06:00 | Juptr | 1.9839 AU | 772.1 LD | 11.5 km/s |
| 2106-08-08 14:31:00 | Earth | 0.4165 AU | 162.1 LD | 11.3 km/s |
| 2109-11-20 08:20:00 | Jupiter | 0.2999 AU | 116.7 LD | 6.3 km/s |
| 2109-11-20 08:20:00 | Juptr | 0.2999 AU | 116.7 LD | 6.3 km/s |
| 2156-10-31 20:18:00 | Juptr | 0.7581 AU | 295.0 LD | 6.3 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- physical properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB