Jupiter-family comet
Comet Tempel 1
The comet that NASA's Deep Impact deliberately struck with a projectile in 2005 to see what lies beneath a comet's surface.
- Distance from Earth today
- 542.4 million km3.625 AU · light: 30 min 9 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 543.3 million km3.632 AU
- As of
- 4 November 2026position from NASA/JPL orbital elements
Where it is today
Top view of the plane of Earth’s orbit, compressed distance scale. Open on the big map with the time slider →
Facts
- Diameter
- 6.00 km
- Dimensions
- 7.6 × 4.9 km
- Rotation period
- 40.7 h
- Semi-major axis
- 3.306 AU (494.6 million km)
- Perihelion
- 1.770 AU
- Aphelion
- 4.842 AU
- Orbital period
- 6.01 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.465
- Orbital inclination
- 10.5°
- Last perihelion
- 7 February 2022
- Next perihelion
- 11 February 2028
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 0.529 AU (79.20 million km)
- Albedo
- 0.050
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 1867 – Wilhelm Tempel
Description
Tempel 1 is a Jupiter-family comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in Marseille in 1867. On 4 July 2005, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft released a copper-rich impactor that slammed into its nucleus, while the flyby spacecraft watched the plume of fine dust and ice blasted out of the surface. The experiment showed that the nucleus is fluffy and porous, with a very fine-grained powdery surface. In 2011 the Stardust spacecraft, on an extended mission, revisited Tempel 1 and imaged the site of the impact, making it the first comet to be visited twice.