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Comet Near-Earth

Mellish

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C/1917 F1 (Mellish)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
44.028 AU
True anomaly
183.29°
Distance from Earth
43.189 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Mellish — 44.028 AU from the Sun Mellish
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Mellish is 43.189 AU from Earth today (6.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 58m 39s
Declination
-11° 14′ 44″
Constellation
Eridanus
Distance from Earth
43.18 AU
Elongation from the Sun
147.24° — 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
27.286 AU
Eccentricity
0.993
Inclination
32.69°
Orbital period
142.5 years
Perihelion
0.19 AU
Aphelion
54.381 AU
Longitude of ascending node
88.68°
Argument of periapsis
121.31°
Epoch · J2000
2421335.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 24.1 LD
0.0619 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.645

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
12
Data arc
38 days
First observed
24 March 1917
Last observed
1 May 1917
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 September 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.8
10.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1917 F1

Near-Earth Object Named

Sources