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Comet

Gibbs

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341P/Gibbs

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.13 AU
True anomaly
109.6°
Distance from Earth
3.778 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 — 4.13 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 3.778 AU from Earth today (31.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 09m 31s
Declination
+26° 10′ 48″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
3.77 AU
Elongation from the Sun
104.35° — 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
4.293 AU
Eccentricity
0.4144
Inclination
3.8°
Orbital period
8.9 years
Perihelion
2.514 AU
Aphelion
6.072 AU
Longitude of ascending node
30.07°
Argument of periapsis
312.39°
Epoch · J2000
2456322.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 587.3 LD
1.509 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.862

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
283
Data arc
9.24 years
First observed
10 September 2007
Last observed
7 December 2016
Residual RMS
0.86 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
16 September 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 341P · 341P/2007 R3 · 341P/2016 N3

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2040-09-09 02:16:00 Juptr 1.4315 AU 557.1 LD 7.9 km/s
2062-07-02 16:13:00 Juptr 1.7266 AU 671.9 LD 8.6 km/s
2097-11-21 20:02:00 Juptr 0.9926 AU 386.3 LD 6.6 km/s
2142-10-27 15:03:00 Juptr 1.8589 AU 723.4 LD 4.7 km/s
2147-03-18 09:59:00 Juptr 0.5671 AU 220.7 LD 3.5 km/s
2191-12-31 11:17:00 Juptr 0.3151 AU 122.6 LD 4.9 km/s

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

Sources