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Comet

WISE-LINEAR

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506P/WISE-LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.582 AU
True anomaly
136.49°
Distance from Earth
6.274 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 WISE-LINEAR — 6.582 AU from the Sun WISE-LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. WISE-LINEAR is 6.274 AU from Earth today (52.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 12m 25s
Declination
+33° 24′ 57″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
6.26 AU
Elongation from the Sun
104.58° — 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
5.577 AU
Eccentricity
0.4821
Inclination
13.65°
Orbital period
13.17 years
Perihelion
2.888 AU
Aphelion
8.266 AU
Longitude of ascending node
325.84°
Argument of periapsis
353.6°
Epoch · J2000
2458729.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 729.8 LD
1.8754 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.696

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
291
Data arc
14.29 years
First observed
20 May 2010
Last observed
1 September 2024
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 September 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
8.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.3
8.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 506P · 506P/2010 KG43 · 506P/2010 PT8

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2095-03-16 13:04:00 Satrn 0.8965 AU 348.9 LD 3.5 km/s
2100-02-09 01:33:00 Juptr 1.8796 AU 731.5 LD 9.7 km/s
2111-09-29 15:08:00 Juptr 1.9995 AU 778.2 LD 4.7 km/s
2114-04-24 11:45:00 Juptr 1.9814 AU 771.1 LD 6 km/s
2143-07-06 06:27:00 Juptr 1.4777 AU 575.1 LD 8.5 km/s

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

Sources