About 167P/CINEOS
167P/CINEOS is a rare comet. It swings within 11.783 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Chiron-type comet, orbiting out among the giant planets rather than diving into the inner Solar System.
Rare comet 46 EP
167P/CINEOS
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 4 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Chiron-type comet +22
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
Total score 46
4 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Chiron-type comet · +22
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. A Chiron-type comet, orbiting out among the giant planets rather than diving into the inner Solar System.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 11.78 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Uranus.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 64.8 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 11.78 and 20.5 AU from the Sun.
Sense of scale
- Sense of scale. In everyday terms it is about 3.1× the length of Manhattan island.
- Walk around it. Walking its equator at a steady pace, eight hours a day, would take about 5.2 days.
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
- Size. Roughly 66.2 km across.
Properties
- albedo
- 0.053
- aphelion au
- 20.5
- designation
- 167P
- diameter km
- 66.17
- eccentricity
- 0.27
- full name
- 167P/CINEOS
- inclination
- 19.13
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0152
- moid au
- 10.8
- name
- 167P/CINEOS
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- CTc
- perihelion au
- 11.783
- semi major au
- 16.14
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, 167P/CINEOS 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 167P/CINEOS is a rare comet
167P/CINEOS scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Chiron-type 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.