Comets: follow a visitor through time

NASA/JPL DATA · A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

Solar System Explorer

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Date, time & custom speed

UTC date and timeSigned speed multiplier

1900–2100 overview. Each JPL trajectory has its own returned interval. Future UTC assumes no additional leap seconds.

Preparing the Solar System…

Follow object Cinematic orbit

A real Solar System, at your chosen time. UTC · 86,400×True distances · physical radii ×12; minimum-pixel markers · 0 rendered / … catalogedDrag to orbit · scroll / pinch to zoom · middle button or two fingers to pan

MAJOR BODY

Earth

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Trajectory window

Custom trajectory interval

Start UTC dateEnd UTC date

The returned day-aligned sample interval is shown above. Resource limit: 366 days per request.

Amber: past · cyan dashes: future. Long overview arcs are approximate; JPL requests are limited to 366 days.

Gold / violet crosses show osculating two-body perihelion / aphelion, independently of a loaded JPL path.

The white arrow shows instantaneous forward-time heliocentric velocity, including during reverse playback.

Distance from Sun: Not published
Distance from Earth: Not published (same-epoch Earth)
Heliocentric speed: Not published

Planetary centres use the existing JPL DE441 bundle in 2020–2036. Other dates, the Moon and Pluto use the documented Astronomy Engine numerical overview. Load a selected JPL trajectory for a bounded interval. Sizes: NASA fact sheets; surface textures: credited on the data-sources page.

Scene & display

Display scaleQualityObject labelsPlanetary orbitsSelected trajectoryIllustrative comet tails

Comet tails point away from the Sun. Activity, colour and dust curvature are illustrative, not measured morphology.

Live browser capture uses the existing Video Studio formats and plan limits. Sign-in is required to create/export.

The nucleus and the light around it

A comet nucleus is an icy small body. Its coma and tails change with activity, illumination and viewing geometry. Tuduni’s optional anti-solar ion tail and curved dust trail are explanatory visual effects, not activity measurements.

Open paths stay open

Some comets follow bound ellipses; others have parabolic or hyperbolic osculating solutions. The overview uses a universal-variable two-body calculation that also handles near-parabolic cases. It never forces an unbound visitor into a closed ellipse.

Return dates need context

An osculating perihelion time belongs to a particular orbital solution. Comet outgassing and planetary encounters can shift future motion. Use the source epoch, observation arc and JPL trajectory availability to decide how confidently to read a return.

From the cached JPL catalog

654 matching records in this bounded snapshot. Last fetched 2026-10-22.

3I/ATLAS: a visitor from another star

The third confirmed interstellar visitor is also cataloged as C/2025 N1 (ATLAS). Follow its open orbit and revisit its 29 October 2025 passage closest to the Sun in Famous events.

Meet 3I/ATLAS →

Sources & scientific accuracy

NASA/JPL SBDB supplies catalog identities and orbital elements, Horizons supplies dated trajectories, and CAD supplies close-approach records. An encounter is a calculated passage, not an impact warning. Source dates, orbit solutions and available uncertainty fields are shown in the explorer.

Display radii, generic shapes and comet activity are illustrative. Read Tuduni’s time and accuracy guide or view data sources and credits.

External NASA/JPL documentation

These scientific references open external documentation in a new tab.