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Comet Near-Earth

Machholz

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141P/Machholz 2-H

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.66 AU
True anomaly
131.83°
Distance from Earth
3.539 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 Machholz — 2.66 AU from the Sun Machholz
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Machholz is 3.539 AU from Earth today (29.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 31m 07s
Declination
-07° 08′ 14″
Constellation
Crater
Distance from Earth
3.54 AU
Elongation from the Sun
24.55° — 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
3.034 AU
Eccentricity
0.7492
Inclination
12.81°
Orbital period
5.29 years
Perihelion
0.761 AU
Aphelion
5.307 AU
Longitude of ascending node
246.03°
Argument of periapsis
149.44°
Epoch · J2000
2457261.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 39.6 LD
0.1016 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.701

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
52
Data arc
20 days
First observed
17 August 2015
Last observed
6 September 2015
Residual RMS
1.34 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
1 August 2025

Discovery & classification

Also known as 141P-H

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2065-03-27 23:37:00 Juptr 1.0502 AU 408.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2077-08-06 01:17:00 Juptr 0.845 AU 328.8 LD 8.5 km/s
2160-04-22 01:01:00 Juptr 0.8212 AU 319.6 LD 7 km/s
2172-06-06 22:50:00 Juptr 1.2103 AU 471.0 LD 9.6 km/s

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

Sources