Jupiter-family comet
Comet Wild 2
The first comet whose dust was brought back to Earth, collected by NASA's Stardust mission and returned in 2006.
- Distance from Earth today
- 644.5 million km4.308 AU · light: 35 min 50 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 767.5 million km5.131 AU
- As of
- 5 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
- 4.00 km
- Semi-major axis
- 3.450 AU (516.1 million km)
- Perihelion
- 1.593 AU
- Aphelion
- 5.307 AU
- Orbital period
- 6.41 years
- Orbital eccentricity
- 0.538
- Orbital inclination
- 3.2°
- Last perihelion
- 16 December 2022
- Next perihelion
- 14 May 2029
- Minimum orbit distance from Earth’s orbit (MOID)
- 0.602 AU (89.99 million km)
Source of the figures: JPL Small-Body Database (public domain).
Discovery: 1978 – Paul Wild
Description
Wild 2 was discovered by Swiss astronomer Paul Wild in 1978, a few years after a close encounter with Jupiter moved it onto an orbit that brings it nearer the Sun. In 2004 NASA's Stardust flew through its coma, capturing dust grains in blocks of ultralight aerogel, and in 2006 a capsule delivered them to Earth – the first samples ever returned from a comet. The grains surprised scientists by containing minerals that formed at very high temperatures close to the young Sun, showing that material was mixed across the early Solar System. The amino acid glycine was also identified in the samples.