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Comet Near-Earth

Tuttle

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8P/Tuttle

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
9.928 AU
True anomaly
171.95°
Distance from Earth
10.088 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 Tuttle — 9.928 AU from the Sun Tuttle
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tuttle is 10.088 AU from Earth today (1.4 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 23m 11s
Declination
-07° 45′ 00″
Constellation
Scutum
Distance from Earth
10.09 AU
Elongation from the Sun
77.6° — well clear of the Sun

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
5.7 AU
Eccentricity
0.8198
Inclination
54.98°
Orbital period
13.61 years
Perihelion
1.027 AU
Aphelion
10.373 AU
Longitude of ascending node
270.34°
Argument of periapsis
207.51°
Epoch · J2000
2454701.5
Orbit class · JFC
Jupiter-family comet (2 < T_J < 3)
Earth MOID · 37.1 LD
0.0953 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.601

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,768
Data arc
55.2 years
First observed
7 January 1967
Last observed
20 March 2022
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
2 May 2022

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.25 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.6

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Mechain, Pierre F. A.
Discovery date
9 January 1790
Discovery site
Paris, France

Also known as 8P · 1790 II · 1858 I · 1871 III · 1871d · 1885 IV · 1885b · 1899 III

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 10 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Tuttle at 2048-12-28 11:04 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-12-28 11:04 UTC close approach of Tuttle. Catalogue miss distance 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-12-25 to 2048-12-31, 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 south 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. approximate Sun 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km 2048-12-28 11:04 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-12-28 11:04 UTC close approach of Tuttle. Catalogue miss distance 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-12-25 to 2048-12-31, 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 south 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
2048-12-28 11:04:00 Earth 0.1752 AU 68.2 LD 32 km/s
2078-09-27 00:37:00 Juptr 1.7267 AU 672.0 LD 12.6 km/s
2107-02-09 12:01:00 Satrn 1.9984 AU 777.7 LD 9.8 km/s
2130-12-25 21:07:00 Earth 0.0961 AU 37.4 LD 32.6 km/s
2173-11-10 16:42:00 Juptr 0.7162 AU 278.7 LD 15.5 km/s

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

Sources