About 86P/Wild 3
86P/Wild 3 is a common comet. It swings within 2.263 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
Roughly 0.9 km across.
Common comet 18 EP
86P/Wild 3
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 3 badgesCommon 24 pts → Uncommon
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) +4
Total score 18
6 more points to reach Uncommon.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Tiny fragment (<1 km) · +4
- Has a proper name · +8
Trivia
How we found it
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Cosmic context
- Size. Roughly 0.9 km across.
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion.
Properties
- diameter km
- 0.86
- eccentricity
- 0.3722
- inclination
- 15.47
- name
- 86P/Wild 3
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFc
- perihelion au
- 2.2632
- semi major au
- 3.605
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 86P/Wild 3 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 86P/Wild 3 is a common comet
86P/Wild 3 scores 18 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the common tier. Another 6 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 3 science badges — Comet, Tiny fragment (<1 km) 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.