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Comet

Gehrels

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90P/Gehrels 1

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.742 AU
True anomaly
197.49°
Distance from Earth
9.608 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 Gehrels — 8.742 AU from the Sun Gehrels
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gehrels is 9.608 AU from Earth today (1.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 31m 05s
Declination
-25° 36′ 22″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
9.61 AU
Elongation from the Sun
27.19° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
6.069 AU
Eccentricity
0.5098
Inclination
9.64°
Orbital period
14.95 years
Perihelion
2.975 AU
Aphelion
9.162 AU
Longitude of ascending node
13.25°
Argument of periapsis
29.27°
Epoch · J2000
2457800.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 773.9 LD
1.9886 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.689

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
577
Data arc
16.68 years
First observed
10 August 2001
Last observed
15 April 2018
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
24 May 2022

Physical properties

Mean radius
3.90 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18
7

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Gehrels, Tom
Discovery date
11 October 1972
Discovery site
Palomar Mountain Observatory, California

Also known as 90P · 1972k · 1973 I · 1987 XVI · 1987v · 90P/1972 T1 · 90P/1987 Q2

Named

Close approaches 3 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2047-03-13 20:40:00 Juptr 1.9415 AU 755.6 LD 7.7 km/s
2108-01-29 14:21:00 Juptr 1.9995 AU 778.1 LD 6.7 km/s

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

Sources