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Comet

Maury

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115P/Maury

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.673 AU
True anomaly
209.88°
Distance from Earth
6.204 AU
As of
22 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Maury — 5.673 AU from the Sun Maury
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Maury is 6.204 AU from Earth today (51.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 22m 54s
Declination
+04° 35′ 00″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
6.19 AU
Elongation from the Sun
54.34° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
4.271 AU
Eccentricity
0.5183
Inclination
11.67°
Orbital period
8.83 years
Perihelion
2.057 AU
Aphelion
6.485 AU
Longitude of ascending node
176.08°
Argument of periapsis
121.11°
Epoch · J2000
2456992.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 416.7 LD
1.0706 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.736

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,382
Data arc
35.4 years
First observed
16 August 1985
Last observed
8 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.7 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
3 May 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.11 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.5
13

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Maury, Alain
Discovery date
16 August 1985
Discovery site
Palomar Mountain Observatory, California

Also known as 115P · 115P/1985 Q1 · 115P/1994 J1 · 1985 VI · 1985k · 1994 VIII · 1994h

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-06-02 20:29:00 Juptr 1.1095 AU 431.8 LD 9.3 km/s
2048-07-25 09:37:00 Juptr 1.0324 AU 401.8 LD 5.8 km/s
2086-03-19 23:50:00 Juptr 1.3259 AU 516.0 LD 4.9 km/s
2122-05-19 09:47:00 Juptr 0.3789 AU 147.5 LD 7 km/s
2122-05-19 09:47:00 Jupiter 0.3789 AU 147.5 LD 7 km/s
2143-06-19 04:22:00 Juptr 1.5062 AU 586.2 LD 8.2 km/s
2180-02-29 05:21:00 Juptr 1.6341 AU 636.0 LD 4.9 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources