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Comet

Wild

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81P/Wild 2

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.16 AU
True anomaly
192.58°
Distance from Earth
4.175 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 Wild — 5.16 AU from the Sun Wild
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Wild is 4.175 AU from Earth today (34.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
00h 35m 46s
Declination
+00° 19′ 20″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
4.18 AU
Elongation from the Sun
168.78° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
3.45 AU
Eccentricity
0.5374
Inclination
3.24°
Orbital period
6.41 years
Perihelion
1.596 AU
Aphelion
5.304 AU
Longitude of ascending node
136.11°
Argument of periapsis
41.73°
Epoch · J2000
2458808.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 234.1 LD
0.6015 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.879

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,795
Data arc
9.89 years
First observed
17 October 2014
Last observed
7 September 2024
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
12 September 2024

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.00 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 12.5
9.8

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Wild, Paul
Discovery date
6 January 1978
Discovery site
Astronomical Institute of Berne, Switzerland

Also known as 81P · 1978 XI · 1978b · 1983s · 1984 XIV · 1989t · 1990 XXVIII · 81P/1978 A2

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2046-11-01 05:46:00 Juptr 1.4168 AU 551.4 LD 10 km/s
2058-08-24 17:27:00 Jupiter 0.1121 AU 43.6 LD 6.7 km/s
2058-08-24 17:27:00 Juptr 0.1121 AU 43.6 LD 6.7 km/s
2069-05-11 01:17:00 Juptr 1.8456 AU 718.3 LD 10.4 km/s
2105-12-19 17:36:00 Juptr 1.6511 AU 642.6 LD 10.5 km/s

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

Sources