About C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker)
C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker) is an epic comet. It swings within 5.457 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
On a hyperbolic orbit: it is moving too fast for the Sun's gravity to hold on to it.
Epic comet 50 EP
C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 5 badgesEpic 78 pts → Anomaly
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) +18
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Retrograde orbit +8
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
Total score 50
28 more points to reach Anomaly.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Retrograde orbit · +8
- Has a proper name · +8
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) · +18
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
Trivia
Hard to believe
- Against the traffic. It goes round the Sun backwards, against the direction every planet and almost everything else travels.
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. On a hyperbolic orbit: it is moving too fast for the Sun's gravity to hold on to it.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 5.46 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
- One-way trip. On a hyperbolic path — it will leave the Solar System and never return.
Standing on it
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion — it is blown, not dragged.
By the numbers
- Made of. A comet is a dirty snowball: water ice, frozen carbon dioxide and dust, held together loosely enough that some simply crumble when the Sun warms them.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- designation
- 1987 H1
- eccentricity
- 1.0032
- full name
- C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker)
- inclination
- 132.49
- mean motion deg day
- 0
- moid au
- 4.47
- name
- C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- HYP
- perihelion au
- 5.457
- semi major au
- -1699
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker) 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 H1 (Shoemaker) is an epic comet
C/1987 H1 (Shoemaker) scores 50 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 28 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Comet, Retrograde orbit, Has a proper name, Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) and Never comes near the Sun — 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.