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Comet Near-Earth

Pons-Brooks

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12P/Pons-Brooks

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.915 AU
True anomaly
150.26°
Distance from Earth
9.52 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Pons-Brooks — 8.915 AU from the Sun Pons-Brooks
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Pons-Brooks is 9.52 AU from Earth today (1.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 17m 38s
Declination
-31° 09′ 59″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
9.53 AU
Elongation from the Sun
49.6° — 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
17.185 AU
Eccentricity
0.9546
Inclination
74.19°
Orbital period
71.24 years
Perihelion
0.781 AU
Aphelion
33.589 AU
Longitude of ascending node
255.86°
Argument of periapsis
198.99°
Epoch · J2000
2460211.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 70.1 LD
0.1801 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.598

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
8,062
Data arc
71.96 years
First observed
20 June 1953
Last observed
7 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15
5

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Pons, Jean Louis
Discovery date
21 July 1812
Discovery site
Marseilles, France

Also known as 12P · 12P/1385 U1 · 12P/1457 A1 · 12P/1812 O1 · 12P/1883 R1 · 12P/1953 M1 · 1812 · 1883b

Near-Earth Object Named

Sources