C/1996 B2
Passed 0.10 AU from Earth in 1996 trailing an ion tail half an astronomical unit long.
Where it is right now
C/1996 B2 is in Centaurus, 54.1 AU away.
Computed for 2 August 2026, 17:00 UTC, and recomputed at least hourly. This page is cached, so treat the line above as accurate to the hour rather than to the second. The map shows the live position.
Position from a Kepler propagation of the published elements below, accurate to about an arcminute.
Facts
Every line carries the source it came from.
- Diameter
- 4.2 kmSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbital period
- 97,943 yearsSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Distance from the Sun
- 2124.755 AU on averageSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Orbit shape
- eccentricity 1.000, inclined 124.9 degrees to the eclipticSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Class
- Long-period cometSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
- Discovered
- 1996-Jan-30 by Yuji HyakutakeSource: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database
Physical size
- Mean radius
- 2.1 km
- Diameter
- 4.2 km across
Orbit
Elements are heliocentric, referred to the J2000.0 ecliptic.
- Average distance from the Sun
- 2,124.8 AU
- Closest and furthest
- 0.229 AU (34.33 million km) to 4,249.3 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.9999, extremely elongated
- Inclination to the ecliptic
- 124.92 degrees
- Orbital period
- 97,943 years
- Longitude of ascending node
- 188.05 degrees
- Argument of periapsis
- 130.18 degrees
- Mean anomaly at J2000.0
- 0.01 degrees
Claim this body
$149 per year
Rides its real orbit on a highly elliptical path, and sweeps the inner system at perihelion. Leased annually.
Wave 3 is not open yet, so this body is not for sale today. Wave 1 is.
A claim is a listing on this map. Not an IAU designation. Permanent, with one disclosed exception for dead links: see the terms.
Catalog id hyakutake. 3,172 objects on the map, of which 171 are hand-authored with sourced facts.