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public Observing fromLocation: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt
SunriseRise: 6:04  
clear_day Transit: 12:06  
SunsetSet: 18:09
sunny DaytimeWhat's Visible Now?
Comets » 

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR

Altitude: -5.5°   Azimuth: 240.5°   Direction: West-South-West

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is a periodic comet that takes 5.47 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was first discovered on November 27, 1869, by Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel and later independently by Lewis Swift on October 11, 1880. After 1908, the comet was considered lost due to unsuccessful attempts to observe it during successive perihelion passages. However, on December 7, 2001, the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program discovered a new object, which was later confirmed to be the same comet. With a perihelion distance of 1.6 astronomical units and an aphelion distance of 5.3 astronomical units, the comet's orbit takes it from beyond Jupiter's orbit to just inside Earth's orbit.

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is currently in the constellation of Scorpius, at a distance of 692,818,438 kilometers from Earth.

Finder chart of 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in Scorpius on March,19 2024
Map showing Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in Scorpius on March, 19 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
The current Right Ascension of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is 16h 06m 02s and the Declination is -22° 21’ 34” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is 32.74 (JPL).

16h 06m 02s
-22° 21’ 34”
Scorpius
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
32.74

The observed values of Magnitude, Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted Magnitude as a directional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 112.4°
Max altitude: 16.2°
Azimuth: 247.6°
  • 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt.
  • Given its current magnitude, 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Additional Resources

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Position and Finder Charts

Finder chart of 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR
Map showing Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in Scorpius on March, 19 2024
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR
RA: 16h 06m 02s
Dec: -22° 21’ 34”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

Also check out Where is Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Earth is currently 692,818,438 kilometers, equivalent to 4.631205 Astronomical Units. Light takes 38 minutes and 30.9936 seconds to travel from Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR and arrive to us.

692,818,438
4.631205
38 minutes and 30.9936 seconds

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR to Earth happens on Thu Nov 12 2026 at a distance of 0.401211 Astronomical Units, or 60,020,365 kilometers:

Thu Nov 12 2026
60,020,365
0.401211

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR as a function of time

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR at epoch 01 November 2019 00:00 UTC (JD: 2458789.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.57742214
Orbit inclination i 14.43558221°
Perihelion distance q 1.38970845 AU
207,897,426 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.18758094 AU
776,051,064 km
Semi-major axis a 3.28864470 AU
491,974,245 km
Orbital period period 5.9639 years
2,178.3309 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2020-Nov-26 00:20:20
2,459,179.5141 JD
Next perihelion transit 2026-Nov-13 08:16
2,461,357.8451 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 167.76737421058°
Longitude of the ascending node node 238.98702345016°
Mean anomaly M 295.5446486951°
Mean motion n 0.16526415°/day

Visualization of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Orbit Diagram of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR
View Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in the 3D Solar System Simulator

Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2024 Mar 12 16h 06m 27s -22° 27’ 09” 32.80 Scorpius
2024 Mar 13 16h 06m 25s -22° 26’ 31” 32.79 Scorpius
2024 Mar 14 16h 06m 24s -22° 25’ 51” 32.78 Scorpius
2024 Mar 15 16h 06m 23s -22° 25’ 09” 32.77 Scorpius
2024 Mar 16 16h 06m 20s -22° 24’ 24” 32.77 Scorpius
2024 Mar 17 16h 06m 15s -22° 23’ 36” 32.76 Scorpius
2024 Mar 18 16h 06m 11s -22° 22’ 46” 32.75 Scorpius
2024 Mar 19 16h 06m 05s -22° 21’ 52” 32.74 Scorpius
2024 Mar 20 16h 05m 57s -22° 20’ 57” 32.73 Scorpius
2024 Mar 21 16h 05m 51s -22° 19’ 58” 32.72 Scorpius
2024 Mar 22 16h 05m 43s -22° 18’ 56” 32.71 Scorpius
2024 Mar 23 16h 05m 33s -22° 17’ 52” 32.71 Scorpius
2024 Mar 24 16h 05m 22s -22° 16’ 45” 32.70 Scorpius
2024 Mar 25 16h 05m 12s -22° 15’ 34” 32.69 Scorpius