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Comet

Gibbs

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C/2018 A6 (Gibbs)

Gibbs is a comet in the Halley-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 3.02 AU to 27.69 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 60.15 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 30 May 2024.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
15.265 AU
True anomaly
143.22°
Distance from Earth
14.738 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 Gibbs — 15.265 AU from the Sun Gibbs
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Gibbs is 14.738 AU from Earth today (2.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
21h 56m 00s
Declination
+40° 01′ 00″
Constellation
Cygnus
Distance from Earth
14.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
120.2° — 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
15.352 AU
Eccentricity
0.8034
Inclination
76.95°
Orbital period
60.15 years
Perihelion
3.018 AU
Aphelion
27.687 AU
Longitude of ascending node
340.39°
Argument of periapsis
264.54°
Epoch · J2000
2458827.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 1,057.2 LD
2.7165 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.801

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
915
Data arc
6.54 years
First observed
3 April 2017
Last observed
19 October 2023
Residual RMS
0.58 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.3
9.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2018 A6

Named

Close approaches 3 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2075-10-10 00:12:00 Juptr 1.9965 AU 777.0 LD 16.8 km/s
2134-11-14 03:39:00 Juptr 1.2164 AU 473.4 LD 17.8 km/s

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

Sources