Comet 9P/Tempel

Comet 9P/Tempel (also known as comet Tempel 1) was discovered by Ernst Tempel on April 3, 1867. It has an orbital period of 5.6 years and travels on a relatively highly elliptical path around the Sun, with a perihelion distance of 1.5 astronomical units (AU) and an aphelion distance of 4.8 AU. The comet is known for its famous encounter with NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft in 2005, during which a projectile was launched to impact the surface of the comet, creating a crater and ejecting debris. The event provided scientists with valuable data about the composition and structure of comets, as well as their potential as carriers of water and organic molecules.

Comet 9P/Tempel is currently in the constellation of Cetus.

The current Right Ascension of Comet 9P/Tempel is 02h 09m 33s and the Declination is +06° 49’ 15” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 9P/Tempel is 21.35 (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 9P/Tempel from Greenwich, United Kingdom edit_location_alt (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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.

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 9P/Tempel?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 9P/Tempel from Earth?)
• When does Comet 9P/Tempel rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 9P/Tempel?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 9P/Tempel orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 9P/Tempel with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 9P/Tempel for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 9P/Tempel in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 9P/Tempel with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 9P/Tempel is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 9P/Tempel?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 9P/Tempel in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 9P/Tempel Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 9P/Tempel from Earth is currently 522,078,904 kilometers, equivalent to 3.489882 Astronomical Units. Light takes 29 minutes and 1.4678 seconds to travel from Comet 9P/Tempel and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 9P/Tempel 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 9P/Tempel from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 9P/Tempel to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 9P/Tempel to Earth happens on Sat Jun 16 2040 at a distance of 0.946206 Astronomical Units, or 141,550,459 kilometers:

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

Comet 9P/Tempel Brightness and Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 9P/Tempel, 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 9P/Tempel Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 9P/Tempel with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 9P/Tempel 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 9P/Tempel 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 9P/Tempel computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 9P/Tempel in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Nov 29	02h 13m 37s	+06° 53’ 18”	21.27	Cetus
2023 Nov 30	02h 13m 04s	+06° 52’ 31”	21.28	Cetus
2023 Dec 01	02h 12m 30s	+06° 51’ 47”	21.29	Cetus
2023 Dec 02	02h 11m 58s	+06° 51’ 10”	21.30	Cetus
2023 Dec 03	02h 11m 27s	+06° 50’ 36”	21.31	Cetus
2023 Dec 04	02h 10m 57s	+06° 50’ 08”	21.32	Cetus
2023 Dec 05	02h 10m 27s	+06° 49’ 46”	21.33	Cetus
2023 Dec 06	02h 09m 59s	+06° 49’ 28”	21.34	Cetus
2023 Dec 07	02h 09m 30s	+06° 49’ 17”	21.35	Cetus
2023 Dec 08	02h 09m 05s	+06° 49’ 10”	21.36	Cetus
2023 Dec 09	02h 08m 39s	+06° 49’ 09”	21.37	Cetus
2023 Dec 10	02h 08m 13s	+06° 49’ 13”	21.38	Cetus
2023 Dec 11	02h 07m 50s	+06° 49’ 22”	21.39	Cetus
2023 Dec 12	02h 07m 27s	+06° 49’ 36”	21.41	Cetus