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Comet

Kearns-Kwee

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59P/Kearns-Kwee

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.137 AU
True anomaly
250.27°
Distance from Earth
3.719 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 Kearns-Kwee — 4.137 AU from the Sun Kearns-Kwee
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Kearns-Kwee is 3.719 AU from Earth today (30.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
21h 15m 31s
Declination
-12° 33′ 18″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
3.73 AU
Elongation from the Sun
107.4° — well clear of the Sun

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
4.491 AU
Eccentricity
0.4764
Inclination
9.34°
Orbital period
9.52 years
Perihelion
2.352 AU
Aphelion
6.63 AU
Longitude of ascending node
312.86°
Argument of periapsis
127.75°
Epoch · J2000
2456600.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 537.3 LD
1.3807 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.771

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,270
Data arc
10.75 years
First observed
9 July 2008
Last observed
8 April 2019
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
17 January 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.79 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.3
10.4

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Kearns, E. and Kwee, K. K.
Discovery date
17 August 1963
Discovery site
Palomar Mountain Observatory, California

Also known as 59P · 1963 VIII · 1963d · 1971c · 1972 XI · 1981 XX · 1981h · 1989u

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-03-26 12:09:00 Juptr 1.9369 AU 753.8 LD 10.1 km/s
2044-07-28 02:40:00 Juptr 0.7956 AU 309.6 LD 4.8 km/s
2102-04-14 08:05:00 Juptr 1.7063 AU 664.1 LD 4.7 km/s
2115-06-23 19:53:00 Juptr 1.6994 AU 661.4 LD 10.4 km/s
2158-06-04 09:02:00 Juptr 1.9407 AU 755.3 LD 4.5 km/s
2160-12-28 20:04:00 Juptr 1.5885 AU 618.2 LD 4.5 km/s
2174-09-10 21:34:00 Juptr 1.6327 AU 635.4 LD 10.3 km/s

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

Sources