Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet Near-Earth

Barnard

Add to an observing list or journal →

D/1884 O1 (Barnard)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.685 AU
True anomaly
166.51°
Distance from Earth
4.89 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Barnard — 4.685 AU from the Sun Barnard
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Barnard is 4.89 AU from Earth today (40.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 39m 46s
Declination
+23° 33′ 53″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
4.88 AU
Elongation from the Sun
72.82° — 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
3.073 AU
Eccentricity
0.5836
Inclination
5.47°
Orbital period
5.39 years
Perihelion
1.28 AU
Aphelion
4.866 AU
Longitude of ascending node
6.75°
Argument of periapsis
301.05°
Epoch · J2000
2409411.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 109.0 LD
0.2801 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.936

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
19
Data arc
89 days
First observed
26 July 1884
Last observed
23 October 1884
Residual RMS
1.03 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1884 O1

Near-Earth Object Named

Sources