Bradfield is a comet in the Halley-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.36 AU to 55.58 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 151.9 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 48.616 AU
- True anomaly
- 173.13°
- Distance from Earth
- 47.739 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
- 00h 22m 31s
- Declination
- +30° 11′ 16″
- Constellation
- Andromeda
- Distance from Earth
- 47.74 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 151.31° — 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.
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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
- 28.468 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.9523
- Inclination
- 51.8°
- Orbital period
- 151.9 years
- Perihelion
- 1.357 AU
- Aphelion
- 55.578 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 356.86°
- Argument of periapsis
- 219.16°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2445755.5
- Orbit class · HTC
- Halley-type comet
- Earth MOID · 186.3 LD
- 0.4786 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 1.065
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).
- Observations used
- 33
- Data arc
- 142 days
- First observed
- 9 January 1984
- Last observed
- 30 May 1984
- Residual RMS
- 0.52 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Discovery & classification
Also known as 1984 A1 · Bradfield 1 · C/1984 A1 · 1983 XIX · 1984a
Sources
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB