About C/1987 A1 (Levy)
C/1987 A1 (Levy) is an uncommon comet. It swings within 0.934 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
Orbits against the grain — retrograde to almost everything else.
Uncommon comet 32 EP
C/1987 A1 (Levy)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 3 badgesUncommon 33 pts → Rare
- Retrograde orbit +18
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
Total score 32
1 more point to reach Rare.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Retrograde orbit · +18
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
What makes it special
- Backwards orbit. Orbits against the grain — retrograde to almost everything else.
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Cosmic context
- One-way trip. On a hyperbolic path — it will leave the Solar System and never return.
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion.
Properties
- eccentricity
- 1.0004
- inclination
- 96.58
- interstellar
- yes
- name
- C/1987 A1 (Levy)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- HYP
- perihelion au
- 0.9344
- semi major au
- -2336
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, C/1987 A1 (Levy) is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why C/1987 A1 (Levy) is an uncommon comet
C/1987 A1 (Levy) scores 32 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Comet, Retrograde orbit and Has a proper name — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.