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Comet

Great March comet

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C/1843 D1 (Great March comet)

Great March comet is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.01 AU to 128.53 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 513 years.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
122.024 AU
True anomaly
179.83°
Distance from Earth
121.769 AU
As of
24 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Great March comet — 122.024 AU from the Sun Great March comet
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Great March comet is 121.769 AU from Earth today (16.9 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 44m 21s
Declination
-12° 27′ 03″
Constellation
Canis Major
Distance from Earth
121.76 AU
Elongation from the Sun
105.17° — 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
64.267 AU
Eccentricity
0.9999
Inclination
144.35°
Orbital period
513 years
Perihelion
0.006 AU
Aphelion
128.529 AU
Longitude of ascending node
3.53°
Argument of periapsis
82.64°
Epoch · J2000
2394259.411
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.006

Orbit quality

Observations used
200
Data arc
45 days
First observed
5 March 1843
Last observed
19 April 1843

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1843 D1

Named

Sources