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Comet

Great comet

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C/1901 G1 (Great comet)

Great comet is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.24 AU to 7,086.55 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 210,929.9 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 9 September 2025.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
140.107 AU
True anomaly
175.26°
Distance from Earth
139.724 AU
As of
25 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Great comet — 140.107 AU from the Sun Great comet
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Great comet is 139.724 AU from Earth today (19.4 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 44m 33s
Declination
+36° 49′ 05″
Constellation
Auriga
Distance from Earth
139.72 AU
Elongation from the Sun
112.95° — 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
3,543.398 AU
Eccentricity
0.9999
Inclination
131.08°
Orbital period
210,929.9 years
Perihelion
0.245 AU
Aphelion
7,086.551 AU
Longitude of ascending node
111.04°
Argument of periapsis
203.05°
Epoch · J2000
2415522.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 176.0 LD
0.4523 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.402

Orbit quality

Observations used
54
Data arc
42 days
First observed
3 May 1901
Last observed
14 June 1901
Residual RMS
0.79 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 September 2025

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1901 G1

Named

Sources