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Comet

Hill

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310P/Hill

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.574 AU
True anomaly
155.89°
Distance from Earth
6.547 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 Hill — 5.574 AU from the Sun Hill
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hill is 6.547 AU from Earth today (54.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 05m 36s
Declination
-08° 34′ 04″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
6.55 AU
Elongation from the Sun
11.62° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
4.162 AU
Eccentricity
0.426
Inclination
13.19°
Orbital period
8.49 years
Perihelion
2.389 AU
Aphelion
5.935 AU
Longitude of ascending node
8.96°
Argument of periapsis
31.66°
Epoch · J2000
2457761.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 547.5 LD
1.4067 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.826

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
587
Data arc
18.49 years
First observed
29 August 2006
Last observed
23 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.53 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11.5
13.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 310P · 310P/2006 S6 · 310P/2014 Q5

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2053-01-18 06:12:00 Juptr 0.7776 AU 302.6 LD 4 km/s
2076-05-10 00:29:00 Juptr 1.6073 AU 625.5 LD 8.8 km/s
2113-11-05 07:13:00 Juptr 1.1046 AU 429.9 LD 5.3 km/s
2135-09-15 20:51:00 Juptr 0.6651 AU 258.9 LD 4.1 km/s
2159-03-19 07:52:00 Juptr 0.5712 AU 222.3 LD 4.3 km/s
2184-03-06 21:16:00 Juptr 0.7163 AU 278.8 LD 4.3 km/s

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

Sources