About D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9)
D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9) is an uncommon comet. It swings within 5.38 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Jupiter-family comet, herded by Jupiter's gravity into a short orbit of under twenty years.
Uncommon comet 29 EP
D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Jupiter-family comet +5
Total score 29
5 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Jupiter-family comet · +5
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. A Jupiter-family comet, herded by Jupiter's gravity into a short orbit of under twenty years.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 5.38 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 17.9 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 5.38 and 8.3 AU from the Sun.
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
- aphelion au
- 8.3
- designation
- 1993 F2-F
- eccentricity
- 0.2136
- full name
- D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9)
- inclination
- 5.95
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0551
- moid au
- 4.37
- name
- D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFc
- perihelion au
- 5.38
- semi major au
- 6.842
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9) 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 D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9) is an uncommon comet
D/1993 F2-F (Shoemaker-Levy 9) scores 29 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 5 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Jupiter-family comet 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.