About 96P/Machholz 1
96P/Machholz 1 is an uncommon comet. It swings within 0.124 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 23 EP
96P/Machholz 1
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Jupiter-family comet +5
- Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) +4
Total score 23
11 more points to reach Rare.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Jupiter-family comet · +5
- Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) · +4
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 0.12 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Mercury.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 5.3 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 0.12 and 5.95 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is roughly 0.7× the height of Mount Everest.
Standing on it
- Sunlight there. At closest approach the Sun beats down about 65 times harder than it ever does on Earth.
- 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.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 5.95
- designation
- 96P
- diameter km
- 6.4
- eccentricity
- 0.9592
- full name
- 96P/Machholz 1
- inclination
- 58.14
- mean motion deg day
- 0.1864
- moid au
- 0.333
- name
- 96P/Machholz 1
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFC
- perihelion au
- 0.124
- semi major au
- 3.035
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 96P/Machholz 1 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 96P/Machholz 1 is an uncommon comet
96P/Machholz 1 scores 23 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 11 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Jupiter-family comet and Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) — 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.