Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR

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 Libra.

The current Right Ascension of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is 15h 16m 41s and the Declination is -20° 34’ 11” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR is 33.41 (JPL).

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):

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Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR from Earth?)
• When does Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

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.

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 909,770,486 kilometers, equivalent to 6.081440 Astronomical Units. Light takes 50 minutes and 34.6677 seconds to travel from Comet 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR and arrive to us.

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.

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:

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.

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!

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
2023 Nov 29	15h 10m 20s	-20° 14’ 08”	33.42	Libra
2023 Nov 30	15h 11m 12s	-20° 16’ 49”	33.42	Libra
2023 Dec 01	15h 12m 02s	-20° 19’ 28”	33.42	Libra
2023 Dec 02	15h 12m 51s	-20° 22’ 09”	33.42	Libra
2023 Dec 03	15h 13m 41s	-20° 24’ 47”	33.41	Libra
2023 Dec 04	15h 14m 30s	-20° 27’ 24”	33.41	Libra
2023 Dec 05	15h 15m 20s	-20° 30’ 00”	33.41	Libra
2023 Dec 06	15h 16m 10s	-20° 32’ 35”	33.41	Libra
2023 Dec 07	15h 16m 59s	-20° 35’ 08”	33.41	Libra
2023 Dec 08	15h 17m 48s	-20° 37’ 41”	33.40	Libra
2023 Dec 09	15h 18m 38s	-20° 40’ 12”	33.40	Libra
2023 Dec 10	15h 19m 27s	-20° 42’ 42”	33.40	Libra
2023 Dec 11	15h 20m 16s	-20° 45’ 11”	33.39	Libra
2023 Dec 12	15h 21m 05s	-20° 47’ 39”	33.39	Libra