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Comet

Mrkos

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124P/Mrkos

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.14 AU
True anomaly
71.9°
Distance from Earth
2.77 AU
As of
11 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 — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Mrkos — 2.14 AU from the Sun Mrkos
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Mrkos is 2.77 AU from Earth today (23.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 03m 13s
Declination
-41° 18′ 55″
Constellation
Lupus
Distance from Earth
2.78 AU
Elongation from the Sun
42.11° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
3.318 AU
Eccentricity
0.504
Inclination
31.53°
Orbital period
6.04 years
Perihelion
1.646 AU
Aphelion
4.991 AU
Longitude of ascending node
0.4°
Argument of periapsis
183.77°
Epoch · J2000
2457467.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 252.9 LD
0.6499 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.744

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,409
Data arc
35.18 years
First observed
15 March 1991
Last observed
18 May 2026
Residual RMS
0.46 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 May 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
16.5

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Mrkos, Antonin
Discovery date
16 March 1991
Discovery site
Klet Observatory

Also known as 124P · 124P/1991 F1 · 124P/1995 S3 · 1991 IV · 1991k

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2117-09-09 11:02:00 Juptr 1.1424 AU 444.6 LD 8.3 km/s
2129-06-12 21:34:00 Juptr 0.6532 AU 254.2 LD 7.8 km/s
2141-05-11 19:34:00 Juptr 0.8966 AU 348.9 LD 8 km/s
2153-04-21 20:10:00 Juptr 1.6627 AU 647.1 LD 9.8 km/s

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

Sources