46P/Wirtanen
46P/Wirtanen (Comet). See its size, orbit and live position on a 3D map of the Solar System. 46P/Wirtanen is a small Jupiter-family comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years.
46P/Wirtanen is a small Jupiter-family comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It was the original target for close investigation by the Rosetta spacecraft, planned by the European Space Agency, but an inability to meet the launch window caused Rosetta to be sent to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko instead. In December 2019, astronomers reported capturing an outburst of the comet in substantial detail by the TESS observatory. It was last observed in 2023 and will next come to perihelion in 2029.
- Type: Comet
- Diameter: 1.2 km
- Orbital period: 5.4 years
- Eccentricity: 0.659