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Comet

Whipple

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36P/Whipple

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.48 AU
True anomaly
239.16°
Distance from Earth
5.12 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 Whipple — 4.48 AU from the Sun Whipple
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Whipple is 5.12 AU from Earth today (42.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 56m 12s
Declination
-14° 00′ 33″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
5.13 AU
Elongation from the Sun
45.08° — 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
4.165 AU
Eccentricity
0.2582
Inclination
9.94°
Orbital period
8.5 years
Perihelion
3.089 AU
Aphelion
5.24 AU
Longitude of ascending node
182.39°
Argument of periapsis
201.96°
Epoch · J2000
2454686.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 815.4 LD
2.0952 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.952

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
949
Data arc
73.63 years
First observed
18 July 1948
Last observed
6 March 2022
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
18 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.28 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13
10.7

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Whipple, Fred L.
Discovery date
15 October 1933
Discovery site
Harvard College Observatory, Oak Ridge, Mass

Also known as 36P · 1926 VIII · 1933 IV · 1933f · 1940b · 1941 III · 1948 VI · 1955d

Named

Close approaches 14 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2040-10-16 17:20:00 Juptr 0.6772 AU 263.6 LD 3.8 km/s
2045-05-25 11:44:00 Juptr 1.0343 AU 402.5 LD 3.1 km/s
2096-12-14 08:51:00 Juptr 1.1839 AU 460.7 LD 1.5 km/s
2100-04-25 00:39:00 Juptr 0.8671 AU 337.5 LD 3.2 km/s
2130-06-12 11:33:00 Juptr 1.8632 AU 725.1 LD 5.5 km/s
2159-03-07 04:53:00 Juptr 1.3868 AU 539.7 LD 5.4 km/s
2163-09-17 01:17:00 Juptr 1.4033 AU 546.1 LD 3.8 km/s
2200-10-13 01:44:00 Juptr 1.5459 AU 601.6 LD 4.7 km/s

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

Sources