Tempel-Tuttle
55P/Tempel-Tuttle
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 12.226 AU
- True anomaly
- 200.57°
- As of
- 17 September 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 14h 33m 11s
- Declination
- -11° 09′ 09″
- Constellation
- Libra
- Distance from Earth
- 12.92 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 44.05° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Visible from both hemispheres.
From your location
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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
- 10.338 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.9056
- Inclination
- 162.49°
- Orbital period
- 33.24 years
- Perihelion
- 0.976 AU
- Aphelion
- 19.7 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 235.27°
- Argument of periapsis
- 172.5°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2451040.5
- Orbit class · HTC
- Halley-type comet
- Earth MOID · 3.3 LD
- 0.0085 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- -0.637
Orbit quality
- Observations used
- 392
- Data arc
- 132.5 years
- First observed
- 22 December 1865
- Last observed
- 5 July 1998
- Residual RMS
- 0.73 ″
- Solution · M.S.W. Keesey
- 3 January 2002
Physical properties
- Mean radius
- 1.80 km
Visual & observation
- Geometric albedo
- 0.06
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 10
- Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 25
- 10
Discovery & classification
Also known as 55P
Close approaches 1 on record
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2163-12-18 05:52:00 | Earth | 0.1325 AU | 51.6 LD | 70.2 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB