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Comet

Van Biesbroeck

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53P/Van Biesbroeck

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.479 AU
True anomaly
235.38°
Distance from Earth
6.155 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 Van Biesbroeck — 5.479 AU from the Sun Van Biesbroeck
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Van Biesbroeck is 6.155 AU from Earth today (51.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 09m 20s
Declination
+06° 30′ 19″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
6.14 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.32° — 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
5.405 AU
Eccentricity
0.551
Inclination
6.61°
Orbital period
12.56 years
Perihelion
2.426 AU
Aphelion
8.383 AU
Longitude of ascending node
148.9°
Argument of periapsis
134.26°
Epoch · J2000
2455802.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 550.8 LD
1.4153 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.652

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,926
Data arc
24.98 years
First observed
20 February 2001
Last observed
14 February 2026
Residual RMS
0.63 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
9 March 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
3.33 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 9.8
10

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Van Biesbroeck, George
Discovery date
1 September 1954
Discovery site
Yerkes Observatory

Also known as 53P · 1954 IV · 1954i · 1965d · 1966 III · 1977s · 1978 XXIV · 1991 VI

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-08-15 06:37:00 Juptr 0.1789 AU 69.6 LD 8.7 km/s
2039-08-15 06:37:00 Jupiter 0.1789 AU 69.6 LD 8.7 km/s
2084-03-28 18:03:00 Juptr 1.1129 AU 433.1 LD 5.6 km/s
2098-10-01 04:34:00 Juptr 0.953 AU 370.9 LD 5.8 km/s
2143-06-26 21:12:00 Juptr 1.3366 AU 520.1 LD 10.9 km/s
2169-12-21 14:31:00 Juptr 0.9173 AU 357.0 LD 5.8 km/s

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

Sources