Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Gibbs

Add to an observing list or journal →

390P/Gibbs

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
9.885 AU
True anomaly
177.35°
Distance from Earth
10.843 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 — 9.885 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 10.843 AU from Earth today (1.5 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 37m 20s
Declination
+03° 27′ 32″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
10.84 AU
Elongation from the Sun
15.47° — 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
5.81 AU
Eccentricity
0.7058
Inclination
18.52°
Orbital period
14 years
Perihelion
1.709 AU
Aphelion
9.911 AU
Longitude of ascending node
152.72°
Argument of periapsis
231.74°
Epoch · J2000
2457472.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 301.1 LD
0.7737 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.315

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
339
Data arc
14.3 years
First observed
16 November 2006
Last observed
6 March 2021
Residual RMS
0.71 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
4 March 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
12.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 390P · 390P/2006 W1 · 390P/2019 U1

Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2063-09-17 22:28:00 Juptr 1.9976 AU 777.4 LD 15 km/s
2102-06-21 01:36:00 Juptr 1.5283 AU 594.8 LD 9.8 km/s
2134-02-14 13:24:00 Juptr 1.7286 AU 672.7 LD 6.9 km/s
2185-01-06 20:50:00 Juptr 1.8972 AU 738.3 LD 12.7 km/s

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

Sources