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Comet

Broughton

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513P/Broughton

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.622 AU
True anomaly
79.63°
Distance from Earth
4.039 AU
As of
24 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Broughton — 4.622 AU from the Sun Broughton
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Broughton is 4.039 AU from Earth today (33.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 01m 55s
Declination
+33° 14′ 34″
Constellation
Auriga
Distance from Earth
4.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
120.55° — 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
7.293 AU
Eccentricity
0.5508
Inclination
21.34°
Orbital period
19.7 years
Perihelion
3.276 AU
Aphelion
11.311 AU
Longitude of ascending node
57.02°
Argument of periapsis
304.48°
Epoch · J2000
2458567.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 909.8 LD
2.3377 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.554

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
287
Data arc
20.38 years
First observed
26 August 2005
Last observed
11 January 2026
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
12 March 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.8
7.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 513P · 513P/2005 T5 · 513P/2025 S1

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-12-19 12:02:00 Juptr 1.1802 AU 459.3 LD 9.5 km/s
2083-03-12 03:16:00 Juptr 1.5522 AU 604.1 LD 7.8 km/s
2173-08-23 06:30:00 Juptr 1.3886 AU 540.4 LD 5.9 km/s
2189-08-03 14:05:00 Satrn 1.2622 AU 491.2 LD 5 km/s

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

Sources