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Comet

Gibbs

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339P/Gibbs

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.997 AU
True anomaly
175.61°
Distance from Earth
5.038 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 Gibbs — 5.997 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 5.038 AU from Earth today (41.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
00h 50m 44s
Declination
+02° 34′ 03″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
5.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
162.76° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
3.676 AU
Eccentricity
0.6398
Inclination
5.75°
Orbital period
7.05 years
Perihelion
1.324 AU
Aphelion
6.028 AU
Longitude of ascending node
172.78°
Argument of periapsis
27.16°
Epoch · J2000
2455339.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 127.1 LD
0.3267 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.701

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
141
Data arc
7.43 years
First observed
24 April 2009
Last observed
26 September 2016
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 38.3
12.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 339P · 339P/2009 K1 · 339P/2016 M2

Named

Close approaches 19 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Gibbs at 2052-04-17 20:26 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2052-04-17 20:26 UTC close approach of Gibbs. Catalogue miss distance 175.1 LD · 6.73 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2052-04-14 to 2052-04-20, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 175.1 LD · 6.73 × 10⁷ km 2052-04-17 20:26 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2052-04-17 20:26 UTC close approach of Gibbs. Catalogue miss distance 175.1 LD · 6.73 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2052-04-14 to 2052-04-20, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2035-11-30 08:33:00 Juptr 0.334 AU 130.0 LD 8 km/s
2035-11-30 08:33:00 Jupiter 0.334 AU 130.0 LD 8 km/s
2046-05-10 20:37:00 Juptr 1.9312 AU 751.6 LD 13.9 km/s
2052-04-17 20:26:00 Earth 0.4499 AU 175.1 LD 2.9 km/s
2071-01-04 11:48:00 Juptr 1.0695 AU 416.2 LD 6.5 km/s
2081-04-18 03:23:00 Earth 0.4771 AU 185.7 LD 2.4 km/s
2105-06-05 15:15:00 Juptr 0.7029 AU 273.5 LD 6.8 km/s
2117-03-27 07:45:00 Earth 0.4655 AU 181.1 LD 3.3 km/s
2141-01-22 20:32:00 Juptr 0.7745 AU 301.4 LD 6.7 km/s
2166-03-05 14:03:00 Mars 0.0445 AU 17.3 LD 14.2 km/s

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

Sources