About 49P/Arend-Rigaux
49P/Arend-Rigaux is an uncommon comet. It swings within 1.426 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
49P/Arend-Rigaux
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Darker than charcoal +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
- Darker than charcoal · +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 1.43 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mars.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 6.7 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 1.43 and 5.71 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 1× the height of Mount Everest.
Standing on it
- Growing a tail. Once inside roughly the orbit of Mars the ice starts turning straight to gas, blowing out the coma and tail that make a comet a comet.
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion — it is blown, not dragged.
By the numbers
- Size. Roughly 8.5 km across.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.028
- aphelion au
- 5.71
- designation
- 49P
- diameter km
- 8.48
- eccentricity
- 0.6002
- full name
- 49P/Arend-Rigaux
- inclination
- 19.06
- mean motion deg day
- 0.1463
- moid au
- 0.465
- name
- 49P/Arend-Rigaux
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFc
- perihelion au
- 1.426
- rotation period h
- 13.45
- semi major au
- 3.567
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 49P/Arend-Rigaux 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 49P/Arend-Rigaux is an uncommon comet
49P/Arend-Rigaux 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 Darker than charcoal — 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.