Uncommon comet 32 EP

55P/Tempel-Tuttle

Position computed live · sbdb

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Live ephemeris

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Score breakdown

· 3 badges

32 pts · Uncommon

Uncommon 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

Wild orbit. Its highly elliptical path swings between scorching and frozen each lap.
Size. Roughly 3.6 km across.
Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion.

Properties

diameter km: 3.6
eccentricity: 0.9056
inclination: 162.49
name: 55P/Tempel-Tuttle
named: yes
orbit class: HTC
perihelion au: 0.9761
semi major au: 10.34

About 55P/Tempel-Tuttle

55P/Tempel-Tuttle is an uncommon comet. It swings within 0.976 AU of the Sun at perihelion.

Orbits against the grain — retrograde to almost everything else.

How to see it

Like any astronomical target, 55P/Tempel-Tuttle 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 55P/Tempel-Tuttle is an uncommon comet

55P/Tempel-Tuttle 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.