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Comet

Wild

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86P/Wild 3

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.451 AU
True anomaly
215.71°
Distance from Earth
4.339 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 Wild — 4.451 AU from the Sun Wild
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Wild is 4.339 AU from Earth today (36.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 14m 50s
Declination
+29° 05′ 21″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
4.33 AU
Elongation from the Sun
90.3° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.605 AU
Eccentricity
0.3722
Inclination
15.47°
Orbital period
6.85 years
Perihelion
2.264 AU
Aphelion
4.947 AU
Longitude of ascending node
72.39°
Argument of periapsis
179.19°
Epoch · J2000
2457683.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 486.4 LD
1.2499 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.932

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
32
Data arc
14.22 years
First observed
3 June 2008
Last observed
22 August 2022
Residual RMS
0.88 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
29 August 2022

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.43 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.2

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Wild, Paul
Discovery date
30 April 1980
Discovery site
Astronomical Institute, Berne Univ. Switz.

Also known as 86P · 1980 VII · 1980d · 1987 XX · 1987e · 1994 XXI · 1994b · 86P/1980 G1

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2060-01-16 01:41:00 Juptr 0.4412 AU 171.7 LD 4.8 km/s
2060-01-16 01:41:00 Jupiter 0.4412 AU 171.7 LD 4.8 km/s
2083-10-16 09:20:00 Juptr 1.7932 AU 697.9 LD 7.7 km/s
2140-06-28 20:39:00 Juptr 1.8496 AU 719.8 LD 2.6 km/s
2143-09-09 20:14:00 Juptr 0.9589 AU 373.2 LD 5 km/s

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

Sources