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Comet

Tsuchiya-Kiuchi

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C/1990 N1 (Tsuchiya-Kiuchi)

Tsuchiya-Kiuchi is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.09 AU to 473.67 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 3,657.4 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
58.689 AU
True anomaly
165.31°
Distance from Earth
58.053 AU
As of
24 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 Tsuchiya-Kiuchi — 58.689 AU from the Sun Tsuchiya-Kiuchi
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Tsuchiya-Kiuchi is 58.053 AU from Earth today (8.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 03m 16s
Declination
-14° 55′ 33″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
58.07 AU
Elongation from the Sun
128.45° — 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
237.379 AU
Eccentricity
0.9954
Inclination
143.78°
Orbital period
3,657.4 years
Perihelion
1.092 AU
Aphelion
473.665 AU
Longitude of ascending node
330.74°
Argument of periapsis
180.92°
Epoch · J2000
2448160.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 40.4 LD
0.1038 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.022

Orbit quality

Observations used
103
Data arc
208 days
First observed
13 July 1990
Last observed
6 February 1991
Residual RMS
0.72 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
5.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.3
5.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1990 N1

Named

Sources