(Next) The 31st return on record

28 July 2061

12,711 days from today

That is perihelion, the comet’s closest point to the Sun. It comes closest to Earth a day later.

In 1986 the comet was on the far side of the Sun and peaked at magnitude +2.1, hard to find from a city. In 2061 it will be on our side, at an expected magnitude of −0.3: about nine times brighter.

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2061: the comet’s path around perihelion, one dot every 8 days, tails pointing away from the Sun. Red: Earth at its closest. Compare 1986, when Earth was across the Sun from it.

Summer 2061, fortnight by fortnight

Date	From Earth	From the Sun	Angle from the Sun in our sky

Computed in your browser from the 1986 orbit, so treat the figures as approximate. Below about 20° from the Sun a comet sits in twilight; the wider the angle, the darker the sky around it. On 9 September 2060 it passes 0.98 au from Jupiter, and on 20 August 2061 it passes 0.0543 au (8.1 million km) from Venus.

Pieces of it, every year

Orionids

When: About a week in late October
Where: Meteors seem to come from Orion
Rate: 50 to 70 an hour in some years
Why: Earth passes 0.154 au from the comet’s orbit and runs into dust it shed long ago

Drawing: meteors trace back to the radiant (cross).

Eta Aquariids

When: 19 April to 28 May, best around 5 May
Where: Before dawn, from Aquarius; best from the equator to 30° south
Rate: About one a minute at the peak
Why: The other crossing, 0.065 au from the orbit; usually two to three times stronger than the Orionids

Drawing: a low radiant before dawn (cross).