46P/Wirtanen
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Physical data
- Diameter
- 1.2 km
Orbit
- Orbit class (JPL)
- JFc — Jupiter-family Comet
- Semi-major axis
- 3.09 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.659
- Inclination
- 11.7°
- Perihelion distance
- 1.06 AU
- Aphelion distance
- 5.13 AU
- Orbital period
- 1,990 days
- Perihelion passage
- JD 2458465.431
- Earth MOID
- 0.0713 AU
Earth approach
- Potentially hazardous (PHA)
- No
- Near-Earth object (NEO)
- Yes
In everyday life
- About 1 km across — 0.3% of the 400 km Seoul–Busan expressway.
- One orbit takes about 1,990 Earth days (about 5.4 years).
- Sunlight needs about 26 minutes to reach it on average (semi-major axis 3.1 AU) — versus about 8 min 19 s to Earth.
Worked out from this object's official values.