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Comet

Ge-Wang

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142P/Ge-Wang

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.438 AU
True anomaly
177.43°
Distance from Earth
8.229 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Ge-Wang — 7.438 AU from the Sun Ge-Wang
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Ge-Wang is 8.229 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 36m 47s
Declination
+01° 03′ 41″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
8.22 AU
Elongation from the Sun
35.86° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.966 AU
Eccentricity
0.4991
Inclination
12.31°
Orbital period
11.07 years
Perihelion
2.487 AU
Aphelion
7.445 AU
Longitude of ascending node
176.52°
Argument of periapsis
175.63°
Epoch · J2000
2455672.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 577.1 LD
1.483 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.702

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
94
Data arc
22.15 years
First observed
15 September 1999
Last observed
10 November 2021
Residual RMS
0.7 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
1 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7
15.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 142P · 142P/1988 V1 · 142P/1999 R2 · 1988 VIII · 1988o

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-09-29 18:56:00 Juptr 0.9923 AU 386.2 LD 5 km/s
2038-04-07 02:50:00 Satrn 1.882 AU 732.4 LD 2.9 km/s
2041-09-08 01:24:00 Juptr 0.7082 AU 275.6 LD 6.7 km/s
2053-03-06 02:19:00 Juptr 1.9257 AU 749.4 LD 10.7 km/s
2192-07-29 04:03:00 Juptr 1.2529 AU 487.6 LD 8.8 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources