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Comet

Burnham

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C/1960 B1 (Burnham)

Burnham is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.17 AU to 13,935.57 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 581,708.2 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
91.523 AU
True anomaly
167.05°
Distance from Earth
91.692 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 Burnham — 91.523 AU from the Sun Burnham
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Burnham is 91.692 AU from Earth today (12.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 55m 45s
Declination
+67° 36′ 20″
Constellation
Draco
Distance from Earth
91.69 AU
Elongation from the Sun
80.13° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
6,968.372 AU
Eccentricity
0.9998
Inclination
69.5°
Orbital period
581,708.2 years
Perihelion
1.171 AU
Aphelion
13,935.573 AU
Longitude of ascending node
83.78°
Argument of periapsis
273.24°
Epoch · J2000
2436988.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 306.0 LD
0.7862 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.471

Orbit quality

Observations used
9
Data arc
80 days
First observed
28 January 1960
Last observed
17 April 1960
Residual RMS
0.32 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1960 B1

Named

Sources