Tempel is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.07 AU to 265.05 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 1,535 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 137.269 AU
- True anomaly
- 172.95°
- Distance from Earth
- 137.552 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 14h 27m 01s
- Declination
- -85° 11′ 45″
- Constellation
- Octans
- Distance from Earth
- 137.56 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 73.01° — well clear of the Sun
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
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
- 133.063 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.9919
- Inclination
- 115.67°
- Orbital period
- 1,535 years
- Perihelion
- 1.073 AU
- Aphelion
- 265.054 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 185.99°
- Argument of periapsis
- 103.17°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2406902.5
- Orbit class · COM
- Comet
- Earth MOID · 206.6 LD
- 0.531 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- -0.516
Orbit quality
- Observations used
- 13
- Data arc
- 11 days
- First observed
- 3 October 1877
- Last observed
- 14 October 1877
- Residual RMS
- 0.92 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Discovery & classification
Also known as 1877 T1
Sources
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB