<p>I suspect that The Sky Live got their comet IDs mixed up.
The <a href="http://theskylive.com/67p-info#elements" rel="nofollow">orbital elements</a> show perihelia in Aug 2015 and Jan 2022,
aphelion 5.69 AU, period 6.45 years, consistent with other sources e.g.
<a href="http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=67P" rel="nofollow">Minor Planet Center</a>.
However, the <a href="http://theskylive.com/67p-info#earthdistance" rel="nofollow">distance chart</a>
shows a perihelion in mid 2018, aphelion about 11 AU, period about 16 years,
clearly not the same object.
Report the bug and they'll probably fix it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-10-01T23:03:34.637Z
2016-10-01T23:03:34.637Z
Mike G
<p>Earlier, I was looking for the current distance from Earth to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in order to do a "back of envelope" calculation of signal delay. Not important, but I was somewhat puzzled to find quite a large discrepancy between values reported by different sites, and would love to understand why.</p>

<p>ESA's Where is Rosetta page currently gives the distance as around 719m km, which, if I'm using it correctly, is backed up by <a href="http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&amp;body_group=sb&amp;sstr=67P%20[]" rel="nofollow">JPL Horizons</a> tool, which gives me a delta of around 4.81 AU. Which is great.</p>

<p>But when I look at The Sky Live's <a href="http://theskylive.com/67p-tracker" rel="nofollow">67P live tracker</a>, it is reporting around 941m km, which their comet info page gives as around 6.3 AU. Am I missing something blindingly obvious?</p>

<distances><67p>
Dfferent distances to comet 67P
Bob Arthur
# Dfferent distances to comet 67P

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-09-30)

Earlier, I was looking for the current distance from Earth to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in order to do a "back of envelope" calculation of signal delay. Not important, but I was somewhat puzzled to find quite a large discrepancy between values reported by different sites, and would love to understand why.

ESA's Where is Rosetta page currently gives the distance as around 719m km, which, if I'm using it correctly, is backed up by [JPL Horizons](http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi?find_body=1&body_group=sb&sstr=67P%20[]) tool, which gives me a delta of around 4.81 AU. Which is great.

But when I look at The Sky Live's [67P live tracker](http://theskylive.com/67p-tracker), it is reporting around 941m km, which their comet info page gives as around 6.3 AU. Am I missing something blindingly obvious?

**Tags:** distances, 67p


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-10-01. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

I suspect that The Sky Live got their comet IDs mixed up.
The [orbital elements](http://theskylive.com/67p-info#elements) show perihelia in Aug 2015 and Jan 2022,
aphelion 5.69 AU, period 6.45 years, consistent with other sources e.g.
[Minor Planet Center](http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=67P).
However, the [distance chart](http://theskylive.com/67p-info#earthdistance)
shows a perihelion in mid 2018, aphelion about 11 AU, period about 16 years,
clearly not the same object.
Report the bug and they'll probably fix it.


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