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Comet

Gibbs

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388P/Gibbs

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.213 AU
True anomaly
191.54°
Distance from Earth
8.735 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 — 8.213 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 8.735 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 23m 51s
Declination
-41° 08′ 04″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
8.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
54.82° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
5.239 AU
Eccentricity
0.6189
Inclination
23.88°
Orbital period
11.99 years
Perihelion
1.997 AU
Aphelion
8.482 AU
Longitude of ascending node
37.16°
Argument of periapsis
42.47°
Epoch · J2000
2456851.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 415.9 LD
1.0686 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.435

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
133
Data arc
12.52 years
First observed
12 October 2007
Last observed
19 April 2020
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
20 September 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18.3
10.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 388P · 388P/2007 T4 · 388P/2019 R2

Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2128-04-21 07:36:00 Juptr 1.8797 AU 731.5 LD 10.5 km/s
2195-05-29 16:05:00 Juptr 1.3121 AU 510.6 LD 7.1 km/s

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

Sources