Comet
Shoemaker-Levy
118P/Shoemaker-Levy 4
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 4.714 AU
- True anomaly
- 197.23°
- As of
- 29 August 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.
Orbital elements
- Semi-major axis
- 3.361 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.4551
- Inclination
- 10.09°
- Orbital period
- 6.16 years
- Perihelion
- 1.831 AU
- Aphelion
- 4.89 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 142.11°
- Argument of periapsis
- 314.44°
- Epoch · J2000
- JD 2459906.44207 (perihelion)
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 12.4
- Spectral type
- JFc
Sources
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB (comets)