Comets and asteroids – famous small bodies of the Solar System
Famous comets and asteroids, trans-Neptunian objects and interstellar visitors: JPL orbits, sizes and perihelion passages.
Comets
| Name | Type | Perihelion | Orbital period | From Earth today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halley's Comet | Halley-type comet | 0.571 AU | 75.48 years | 5.23 billion km |
| Comet Encke | Encke-type comet | 0.339 AU | 3.30 years | 140.4 million km |
| Comet Tempel 1 | Jupiter-family comet | 1.770 AU | 6.01 years | 545.2 million km |
| Comet Borrelly | Jupiter-family comet | 1.309 AU | 6.86 years | 896.6 million km |
| Comet Wild 2 | Jupiter-family comet | 1.593 AU | 6.41 years | 642.0 million km |
| Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko | Jupiter-family comet | 1.212 AU | 6.43 years | 756.3 million km |
| Comet Hartley 2 | Jupiter-family comet | 1.067 AU | 6.48 years | 1.03 billion km |
| Comet Swift–Tuttle | Halley-type comet | 0.959 AU | 133.9 years | 6.50 billion km |
| Comet Hale–Bopp | long-period comet | 0.927 AU | 2,440 years | 7.70 billion km |
| Comet Hyakutake | long-period comet | 0.240 AU | 112,179 years | 8.26 billion km |
| Comet NEOWISE | long-period comet | 0.292 AU | 8,268 years | 2.96 billion km |
| Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS | long-period comet | 0.391 AU | none – open (hyperbolic) orbit | 1.40 billion km |
| 2I/Borisov | interstellar object | 2.002 AU | none – open (hyperbolic) orbit | 7.45 billion km |
| 3I/ATLAS | interstellar object | 1.352 AU | none – open (hyperbolic) orbit | 1.87 billion km |
Asteroids
| Name | Type | Perihelion | Orbital period | From Earth today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ʻOumuamua | interstellar object | 0.267 AU | none – open (hyperbolic) orbit | 8.14 billion km |
| Vesta | main-belt asteroid | 2.148 AU | 3.63 years | 233.8 million km |
| Pallas | main-belt asteroid | 2.130 AU | 4.61 years | 286.5 million km |
| Hygiea | main-belt asteroid | 2.817 AU | 5.59 years | 519.0 million km |
| Psyche | main-belt asteroid | 2.529 AU | 5.01 years | 515.8 million km |
| Eros | near-Earth asteroid | 1.133 AU | 1.76 years | 358.4 million km |
| Ida | main-belt asteroid | 2.730 AU | 4.84 years | 518.7 million km |
| Gaspra | main-belt asteroid | 1.825 AU | 3.28 years | 514.6 million km |
| Mathilde | main-belt asteroid | 1.947 AU | 4.31 years | 483.0 million km |
| Itokawa | near-Earth asteroid | 0.953 AU | 1.52 years | 210.8 million km |
| Bennu | near-Earth asteroid | 0.897 AU | 1.19 years | 332.1 million km |
| Ryugu | near-Earth asteroid | 0.963 AU | 1.30 years | 316.3 million km |
| Apophis | near-Earth asteroid | 0.746 AU | 323.5 days (0.89 years) | 203.5 million km |
| Didymos | near-Earth asteroid | 1.013 AU | 2.11 years | 196.8 million km |
| Dinkinesh | main-belt asteroid | 1.944 AU | 3.24 years | 439.7 million km |
| Lutetia | main-belt asteroid | 2.033 AU | 3.80 years | 370.7 million km |
| Šteins | main-belt asteroid | 2.016 AU | 3.63 years | 457.2 million km |
| Eurybates | Jupiter trojan | 4.746 AU | 11.92 years | 983.7 million km |
| Donaldjohanson | main-belt asteroid | 1.939 AU | 3.68 years | 470.9 million km |
| Arrokoth | Kuiper belt object | 42.50 AU | 292.4 years | 6.48 billion km |
| Sedna | detached trans-Neptunian object | 76.16 AU | 12,525 years | 12.25 billion km |
| Quaoar | Kuiper belt object | 41.66 AU | 283.6 years | 6.44 billion km |
| Gonggong | scattered-disc object | 33.11 AU | 546.7 years | 13.38 billion km |
| Orcus | plutino | 30.73 AU | 247.3 years | 7.26 billion km |
| 2024 YR4 | near-Earth asteroid | 0.852 AU | 3.99 years | 773.0 million km |
Orbits: JPL Small-Body Database and JPL Horizons osculating elements for the import date. Positions from Keplerian motion – matching JPL for today, approximate for distant dates.