Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

WISE

Add to an observing list or journal →

P/2010 D2 (WISE)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.94 AU
True anomaly
320.47°
Distance from Earth
3.484 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 WISE — 3.94 AU from the Sun WISE
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. WISE is 3.484 AU from Earth today (29.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
21h 44m 56s
Declination
+70° 03′ 45″
Constellation
Cepheus
Distance from Earth
3.48 AU
Elongation from the Sun
110.22° — 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
6.69 AU
Eccentricity
0.453
Inclination
57.18°
Orbital period
17.3 years
Perihelion
3.659 AU
Aphelion
9.72 AU
Longitude of ascending node
319.84°
Argument of periapsis
120.07°
Epoch · J2000
2455440.5
Orbit class · JFC
Jupiter-family comet (2 < T_J < 3)
Earth MOID · 1,146.0 LD
2.9446 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.874

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
66
Data arc
428 days
First observed
25 February 2010
Last observed
29 April 2011
Residual RMS
0.72 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2010 D2

Named

Close approaches 3 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2098-09-10 08:35:00 Juptr 1.493 AU 581.0 LD 15.8 km/s

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

Sources