Comet 8P/Tuttle is a periodic comet that orbits the Sun once every 13.6 years. It was discovered by American astronomer Horace Parnell Tuttle on May 3, 1858. The comet has a highly elliptical orbit, with an aphelion distance of about 10.4 AU and a perihelion distance of about 1.02 AU. It was originally classified as a Jupiter-family comet (even though it does not fit the most modern classification criteria), meaning its orbit is strongly influenced by the gravity of Jupiter.

Find it in the Sky

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Time: : UTC

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Comet 8P/Tuttle

Below the horizon. Rise: 19:11 | Tran: 0:09 | Set: 5:12

Alt: -0.78° Az: 252.17° Direction: West-South-West

Comet 8P/Tuttle is in the constellation of Scutum, at a distance of 1,204,044,100.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 18h 26m 26s and the Declination is -11° 36’ 43” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 8P/Tuttle, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 23.43.

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 8P/Tuttle in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

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Star map showing the position of comet 8P/Tuttle in the constellation of Scutum on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.

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Star map showing the position of comet 8P/Tuttle in the constellation of Scutum on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of comet 8P/Tuttle against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

8P/Tuttle
RA: 18h 25m 01s
Dec: -11° 37’ 40”

Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 8P/Tuttle. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 18h 26m 26s

Declination -11° 36’ 43”

Hour Angle 05h 05m 25s

Sidereal Time 23h 31m 52s

J2000

Right Ascension 18h 25m 01s

Declination -11° 37’ 40”

Additional Information

Constellation Scutum

Observed Magnitude (COBS) n/a

Coma Diameter (COBS) n/a

Tail Length (COBS) n/a

Observation Date (COBS) n/a

Predicted Magnitude (JPL) 23.43

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.

Rise and Set Times

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of comet 8P/Tuttle from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 101.6° RISE 19:11

Max altitude: 26.9° TRANSIT 0:09

Azimuth: 258.4° SET 5:12

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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of comet 8P/Tuttle from Earth is currently 1,204,044,100.0 kilometers, equivalent to 8.0485376855 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 6m 56.259s to travel from comet 8P/Tuttle and arrive to us.

Distance Km 1,204,044,100.0

Distance AU 8.0485376855

Light Travel Time 1h 6m 56.259s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 8P/Tuttle from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of comet 8P/Tuttle from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of 8P/Tuttle from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet 8P/Tuttle to Earth will happen on Monday 28 December 2048 at a distance of 0.175435 Astronomical Units, or 26,244,724 kilometers:

Date Monday 28 December 2048

Distance Kilometers 26,244,724

Distance AU 0.175435

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

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of comet 8P/Tuttle, i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of comet 8P/Tuttle as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet 8P/Tuttle at epoch August, 22 2008 00:00 UTC (JD: 2454701.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element	Symbol	Value
Orbit eccentricity	e	0.81978762
Orbit inclination	i	54.98196883°
Perihelion distance	q	1.02726309 AU 153,676,372 km
Aphelion distance	Q	10.37331963 AU 1,551,826,532 km
Semi-major axis	a	5.70029136 AU 852,751,452 km
Orbital period	period	13.6099 years 4,971.0028 days
Date of perihelion transit	Tp	January 27, 2008 2,454,492.5180 JD
Next perihelion transit		September 6, 2021 2,459,463.5208 JD
Argument of perihelion	peri	207.51151750851°
Longitude of the ascending node	node	270.34216157066°
Mean anomaly	M	15.13447433004°
Mean motion	n	0.07242000°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet 8P/Tuttle relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of comet 8P/Tuttle computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
Jul 03 2025	18h 29m 38s	-11° 39’ 18”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 04 2025	18h 29m 11s	-11° 38’ 53”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 05 2025	18h 28m 44s	-11° 38’ 28”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 06 2025	18h 28m 17s	-11° 38’ 05”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 07 2025	18h 27m 50s	-11° 37’ 44”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 08 2025	18h 27m 24s	-11° 37’ 23”	23.42	Scutum
Jul 09 2025	18h 26m 57s	-11° 37’ 04”	23.43	Scutum
Jul 10 2025	18h 26m 31s	-11° 36’ 46”	23.43	Scutum
Jul 11 2025	18h 26m 05s	-11° 36’ 29”	23.43	Scutum
Jul 12 2025	18h 25m 39s	-11° 36’ 14”	23.43	Scutum
Jul 13 2025	18h 25m 13s	-11° 36’ 00”	23.44	Scutum
Jul 14 2025	18h 24m 47s	-11° 35’ 47”	23.44	Scutum
Jul 15 2025	18h 24m 21s	-11° 35’ 35”	23.44	Scutum
Jul 16 2025	18h 23m 56s	-11° 35’ 25”	23.44	Scutum

Ephemeris Calculator

Compute the position of comet 8P/Tuttle for any date and time between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099 and display the results on an interactive star map.