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Comet

Great January comet

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C/1910 A1 (Great January comet)

Great January comet is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.13 AU to 1,172.77 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 14,202.2 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2024.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
131.062 AU
True anomaly
176.61°
Distance from Earth
131.031 AU
As of
25 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 January comet — 131.062 AU from the Sun Great January comet
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Great January comet is 131.031 AU from Earth today (18.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 01m 27s
Declination
+06° 31′ 33″
Constellation
Aquila
Distance from Earth
131.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
91.38° — 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
586.45 AU
Eccentricity
0.9998
Inclination
138.78°
Orbital period
14,202.2 years
Perihelion
0.129 AU
Aphelion
1,172.77 AU
Longitude of ascending node
90.03°
Argument of periapsis
320.89°
Epoch · J2000
2418705.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 11.5 LD
0.0295 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.326

Orbit quality

Observations used
25
Data arc
82 days
First observed
19 January 1910
Last observed
11 April 1910
Residual RMS
1.03 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2024

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1910 A1

Named

Sources